Volume 18, Number 2
Jun 1994

News

SOLINET Summer Preservation Workshops

SOLINET, the Southeastern Library Network, will be giving eight workshops in the southeastern states during July, August and September. Nonmembers as well as members may attend, but the fees are higher. For information, call 800/999-8558 (in Georgia, 404/892-0943). (1D4)

Research Invited on Preservation Concerns

The fifth of six "Science Initiatives" of the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA) is the effect of fluctuating temperature and RH. Preservation administrators feel a need for applied research and guidelines on this topic, and a committee of six has written up a preliminary description of what is needed, "Research on the Effect of Moisture in Collections under Fluctuating RH and Temperature." The committee is composed of Carla Montori, Carolyn Clark Morrow, Donald Sebera, Richard Frieder, James Stroud and Karen Turko.... The CPA published the four-page description in June 1994, and is seeking the support and involvement of interested parties in funding and conducting the research on this as well as the other five projects in this effort. (2C1.3).

The CPA also published the last of its six descriptions of needed research in June: "Longevity Tests for Polyvinyl Acetate Adhesives used in Double-Fan Adhesive Binding." The committee that developed this preliminary description had seven members: Barclay Ogden, Jan Merrill-Oldham, Chris Ward, James Druzik, Wes Boomgaarden, Janet Gertz and Peter Sparks. The first two members are identified as "key contacts." The concern here is the lack of an accelerated aging test that can predict the lifespan of the adhesives used nowadays to replace sewn bindings. (3.73)

Book Thieves

• Stephen Blumberg, now in jail on a six-year sentence for stealing about 20 million dollars' worth of rare books and manuscripts (Abbey Newsletter, Nov. 1991, front page; Aug. 1992, p. 66), wants back all the books that have not yet been claimed by their original owners. (There are about 3000 of them.) In 1993 the FBI gave them to Creighton University Library, but in March Blumberg wrote to the library to say he planned to take legal action to get them back.

  The effort to get the stolen books back to their rightful owners continues, according to the April RBMS Newsletter. Institutions that have suffered a Blumberg loss and are still seeking missing materials, and institutions that received materials from the FBI that do not belong to them, may take part in the project by contacting Everett Wilkie, Head Librarian, Connecticut Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth St., Hartford, CT, 06105 (203/236-5621, fax 236-2664, e-mail everett@chs.org). Participation in this project in no way obligates any library to any course of action.

• Stuart Lee Adelman, who stole manuscripts from the Folger Shakespeare Library, was profiled on "America's Most Wanted" on Saturday, June 4, at 9 pm EST. Pictures and a description of Adelman and other book thieves are available from Carol Miller, Head of Security, Free Library of Phila-delphia, 1900 Vine St., Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215/686-5319, fax 563-3628). (2G)

NEH Funds Exploration of Microfilm/Digital Records

The National Endowment for the Humanities' Division of Preservation and Access has awarded grants totalling nearly $6.5 million to 26 museums, libraries and archives. Nine of these grant projects are listed in the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA) Newsletter for May. Apparently all of the projects involve microfilming, because the preservation work to be done is not spelled out. One of the nine (Yale University) is a research and demonstration project to study the "organizational, financial and technical issues involved in converting microfilm to digital imagery." At Cornell, the reverse process will be explored. Both projects continue work begun by members of the CPA's Digital Preservation Consortium.

For more information on the NEH grant programs, call 202/606-8438 and ask for the Public Information Office. (1M)