News

Shakespeare Incunabula Will be Cataloged and Conserved

The Folger Shakespeare Library has received a Title IIC grant to begin providing bibliographic access and conservation treatment for the Folger Incunabula.

Approximately 250 books will be cataloged during the first year. The Folger Incunabula received very brief cataloging some 50 years ago. By providing in-depth cataloging and inputting the records to RLIN, the library will be making complete bibliographic information available to scholars everywhere.

The same 250 books will be microfilmed during the first year, not only for preservation and security but to acquire a master negative from which it will be possible to run off copies for scholars who wish to consult the works at a distance from the Folger.

Linda Blaser, senior conservator, will be spending the first year restoring and repairing half of those in need to insure that they can be handled safely in the future. In some instances the treatment will be limited to repair of tears, but in other cases the incunabula will be disassembled, treated, and rebound. Boards will be repaired; leaves will be washed. After holes are filled by leafcasting, the leaves will be sized and resewn.

Finally, a Source of Alkaline Green Bar Computer Paper

It has been easy in recent years to find white alkaline computer paper, for narrow-platen printers, but the wide green bar paper has always been acidic, or alkaline one week and acidic the next. This has annoyed and distressed people who wanted all their records to be alkaline and long-lasting. Now a supplier has been discovered: Shade Allied, Inc., a company formed this past summer by a merger of SCM Allied and Shade Computer Forms Co. Shade Allied distributes nationally. To place an order or learn more, call 800/ 477-4233. Ask about their Premium Infinity line of recycled pinfeed computer .paper.

ARSAG Program Looks Interesting

Next May the Association pour la Recherche Scientifique sur les Arts Graphiques (ARSAG) will hold its second symposium, "Environment and Conservation of Graphic, Photographic and Audiovisual Documents," in Paris, with simultaneous translation, English/French. The preliminary program appeared this past summer. Titles of some of the papers follow, translated to English where necessary:

A. Abid (UNESCO) - Memory of the World: Preserving Valuable Library and Archival Collections

M. Muller (Ministère de l'Environnement, Paris) - Current Trends in Urban Air Quality

P. Adelstein (IPI) - Protection of Microform Images Against Oxidation

J. Havermans (TNO Center, Delft) - Effects of Pollution on Paper (STEP Program)

H. Arai (National Research Institute of Cultural Properties, Tokyo) - Foxing Caused by Fungi and its Formation Mechanism

C. Shahani (Library of Congress) - Effect of pH, Lignin and Metal Content on the Fungal Resistance of Paper

D. Priest (UMIST) - The Aging of Paper Containing Chemithermomechanical Pulp

X. Zou (Paprican) - The Role of Lignin in the Mechanical Permanence of Paper

J.-F. Dufresne (Digipress) - The Optical Disk: A Support for Very Long Term Storage

M. Edge (Manchester Metropolitan University) - Factors Influencing the Breakdown of Photographic Film: Implications for Storage and Lifetime Monitoring

M.J. Puissant (Centro del bel Libro, Ascona) - Experiences with Water-Sensitive Bookbinding Leather in Restoration and Conservation

K.B. Hendriks (CCI) - Permanence of paper in Light of Six Centuries of Paper Making in Europe

M. Walckiers - Permanent Paper

G. Manas (Kodak-Pathé) - Molecular Sieves and the Prevention of the "Vinegar Syndrome"

T. Kenjo - Countermeasure for Protecting Cultural Properties Against Fire and Dust

There are 43 papers. This list gives some indication of the overall quality, but omits many interesting papers. Registration (until Feb. 15): Students 700 FF (about $120), non-members of ARSAG 1,200 FF (about $225). Contact Françoise Flieder or Sibylle Monod, ARSAG, 36, rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, 75005 Paris, France; telephone 33 (1) 45 87 06 12; fax 33 (1) 47 07 62 95.

NYS Libraries Have Variety of Grant-Funded Projects

The New York State Conservation/Preservation Program has announced the grant awards in its cooperative ("coordinated") and discretionary grant programs for 1993/94, and they look good, that is, important and interesting, though they are not very large. The big 11 research libraries in the state will cooperatively investigate the use of digital technology for preservation, continuing the work begun by Cornell University Library. Nine libraries will investigate the optimum storage strategies for color photography, using the Image Permanence Institute as the prime contractor for the research. Over 600 bound volumes of music scores will be preserved in a five-library joint project, by photocopying. A start will be made on preserving on microfilm the core historical literature of natural history and natural resources in and around New York State. And a three-year project will give eight Central New York technicians six weeks instruction each in repair and phased preservation, using the training pattern pioneered in California. For a complete list of projects, write to Conservation/Preservation Program, New York State Library, Division of Library Development, 10-C-47 Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY 12230 (518/474-6971).

Sprinkler Companies

Libraries and archives that are planning to have sprinklers installed or worked on in the near future may be glad to know that three companies in this field have achieved registration for ISO 9001 or 9002, the international quality standards. All were registered by Loss Prevention Certification Board Ltd. of Hertfordshire in England: ASCOA Fire Systems of Swainsboro, Georgia; Central Sprinkler Company of Lansdale, Pennsylvania; and Globe Fire Sprinkler Corporation of Standish, Michigan.

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