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[padg] [Fwd: [alctsbd] FW: [alacoun-ro] [alacoun] Letter for Preservation]
Please find below a letter from ALA and ARL in support of full funding
for the NEH Division of Preservation and Access. For more information,
see also Charlie Kolb's June 17 post to PADG (a message forwarded from
Ruth Seyler of AIC).
Andy
Andrew Hart, Chair
ALCTS Preservation and Reformatting Section
--
Andrew Hart
Preservation Librarian
CB#3910, Davis Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Tel. 919-962-8047
Fax 919-962-4450
ashart@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [alctsbd] FW: [alacoun-ro] [alacoun] Letter for Preservation
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:12:18 -0400
From: Charles Wilt <cwilt@xxxxxxx>
Reply-To: alctsbd@xxxxxxx, "Charles Wilt" <cwilt@xxxxxxx>
To: <alctsbd@xxxxxxx>
FYI
*From:* Emily Sheketoff [mailto:esheketoff@xxxxxxxxxxx]
*Sent:* Thursday, June 19, 2008 5:33 PM
*To:* alacoun@xxxxxxx
*Cc:* alacol2@xxxxxxx
*Subject:* [alacoun-ro] [alacoun] Letter for Preservation
June 19, 2008
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Chairwoman
Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
SD-131 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Wayne Allard
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
SD-131 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Chairwoman Feinstein and Ranking Member Allard,
On behalf of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the
American Library Association (ALA), we write to express strong support
for full
funding of $18.380 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH) Division of Preservation and Access. With NEH’s support, libraries
engage in numerous activities to preserve and provide access to our
national and
international cultural heritage. We also urge you to support the overall
funding
for NEH at the level of $160 million as recommended by the House
Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.
NEH funding is central to libraries across the country as this funding
supports the preservation of unique collections, the training of
librarians to
preserve these culturally valuable resources, and to making important
research
tools broadly available for use by the public. For example, NEH funding
supports seven regional field offices and four academic programs in
conservation as well as providing individual awards that support basic
preservation activities in libraries, archives, museums and historical
organizations in 33 states. These include preservation training programs
that
reach about 4200 people, of which approximately 40 percent went to
first-time
NEH grantees. NEH support of workforce development and training efforts is
critically important as librarians, archivists and museum professionals
cope with
the implications of new information technologies while sustaining and
building
upon their traditional roles.
Recent examples of NEH grants in each of these areas include:
• cataloging 1,200 newspaper titles and the preservation microfilming
of 800,000 pages of deteriorating newsprint; University of California,
Riverside,
CA.
• enhancing descriptive records and rehousing of 1,200 linear feet of
records documenting the conception, planning, realization, and operation
, from
1935 through 1945, of the 1939 New York World’s Fair; New York Public
Library,
NY.
• digitizing and enhancing cataloging of 11,000 hours of news specials
broadcast by national news networks from 1968 to 2003; Vanderbilt
University,
TN.; and
• providing graduate training for conservators specializing in the
preservation of humanities collections including ethnographic and
archaeological materials, works on paper, books and photographs; SUNY
Research Foundation, College of Buffalo, NY.
The NEH Division of Preservation and Access provides awards to
support the creation of a wide range of research tools and reference
works such
as online encyclopedias, ancient language dictionaries, and catalogs of rare
materials. Such support democratizes access to important educational
reference
works and creates new analytical capabilities allowing for broad
participation in
research by students and teachers. The Division also supports the use of
software tools such as Geographic Information Systems or GIS in educational
resource projects. This results in Internet-based spatial and historical
reference
tools that enable ongoing development and enhanced utility of these
educational
resources. Such projects and authoritative reference tools build the
foundation
for research, and in digital form, enable wider and effective access to key
resources. Examples of recent awards include:
• compiling the fifth volume of the Dictionary of American Regional
English (DARE) which documents geographical differences in vocabulary,
pronunciation, and morphology of American English; University of Wisconsin,
WS.
• creating of an interactive Internet-based spatial and historical
reference tool for the cartography of the ancient world; University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
• completing an electronic database on transatlantic slave voyages and
creating a two tiered Web-based resource to service scholars, students
and the
public; Emory University, GA. and;
• creating the first phase of the online “ Encyclopedia of Egyptology”
on the history and culture of Egypt from 5500 BC to 641 CE; University of
California, Los Angeles, CA.
Finally, the Division of Preservation and Access has provided support
to stabilize humanities collections for institutions whose collections
and facilities
were severely impacted by hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Despite heroic
efforts to
save materials from water damage, we can expect to see additional
requests for
assistance by libraries and other institutions due to the extensive
flooding in
Iowa and elsewhere along the Mississippi. Examples include:
• the Biloxi Public Library was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina
with collections such as the Murella H. Powell History Collection which
contain
historic photographs, maps, architectural records, oral histories,
family archives
and other materials. These were removed and shipped to Chicago for
professional cleaning and drying due to mold from the Hurricane.
• materials in Tulane University’s Newcomb College Center for
Research on Women in New Orleans incurred water damage and the conditions
in Tulane’s building fostered the growth of mold. Materials were moved to
professional facilities for repair and/or conservation treatment.
We appreciate the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies’ support for NEH’s preservation and access activities in the
past and
request your ongoing support as you and other members of the Subcommittee
consider the NEH Fiscal Year 2009 budget request. Thank you in advance for
your consideration of this request. Please let us know if there is
additional
information that we can provide.
Sincerely,
Prudence S. Adler Lynne Bradley
Associate Executive Director Director, Office of
Association of Research Libraries Government Relations
American Library Association