The Abbey Newsletter

Volume 21, Number 3
Sep 1997


News

CLIR is Result of Merger, Not a New Name

In the last issue, the Council on Library and Information Resources was announced as the new name of the Council on Library Resources, as of July 1. Actually, according to a July 8 news release, CLIR is the result of a merger of CLR and the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA). Now the CPA, which started life under the wing of the Council in 1984 as the Committee on Preservation, is one of four major programs of CLIR, along with programs for Digital Libraries, the Economics of Information, and Leadership.

Recently CLIR announced that the National Digital Library Federation will become one of its programs, and that Donald J. Waters of Yale University will be its Director, as of October 6. The NDLF was formed in May 1995 and described on the front page of this newsletter in the August 1995 issue. Current information is available at http://lcweb.loc/loc/ndlf, or by contacting Deanna Marcum, CLIR President (dmarcum@clir.org).

The July news release says that the interests of CLIR embrace the full range of information resources and services, from traditional library and archival materials to emerging digital formats, and the entire network of agencies that gather, catalog, store, preserve, and distribute information and that help users gain access to it. Abby Smith will be the CLIR Preservation and Access Officer, effective September 15. (See "People" column.)

By the time this newsletter reaches readers, CLIR will have moved to new quarters at 1755 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036-2188. The telephone number will be 202/939-4757 and the fax 202/939-4765. E-mail stays the same, of course: info@clir.org. A web site is being set up at http://clir.stanford.edu/.

Conservation Materials Closes

Conservation Materials, a supplier in Sparks, Nevada, has closed down permanently because of business reverses following the death of proprietor Doug Adams several years ago. It has not been sold. Dorothy Adams, who has been trying to keep the business going, opened a similar business earlier this summer, but sold it in July.

Conservators have naturally been concerned because Conservation Materials had a well-earned reputation for working closely with conservators and primary suppliers to meet their needs for specialized materials. It occupied a special niche. Now William and Yolanda Foster will be working to fill that niche through their new company, Conservator's Emporium.

William Foster is a business consultant and Yolanda is a chemist. They have worked for Conservation Materials and have good contacts among the primary suppliers. (See Supplies and Services column.)

CBBAG has new Website and Street Addresses

The Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild has moved from McCaul Street to 176 John Street, Ste. 309, Toronto, ON M5T 1X5, Canada. The new Website address is http://kawartha.net/~miller/cbbag/CBBAGhome .html.

Telephone and fax remain unchanged: 416/581-1071; fax 905/851-6029.

LC/Ameritech National Digital Library Award

The Library of Congress is sponsoring a competition, funded by Ameritech, to enable cultural institutions to create digital collections of primary resources. These digital collections will complement and enhance the collections made available on the Internet by the National Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress.

Ten institutions received awards last April in the first round of the program. This time, applications will be limited to collections of textual and graphic materials that illuminate United States history and culture for the period from 1763 to 1920.

The competition guidelines may be viewed at http:// lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/award/. Any nonfederal, tax-exempt cultural repository in the U.S. holding primary sources suitable for digitizing may compete.

Preservation Technology & Training Grants

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training is a National Park Service initiative to advance the practice of historic preservation in the fields of archeology, architecture, landscape architecture, materials conservation and interpretation. All proposals that seek to develop and distribute preservation skills and technologies for the identification, evaluation, conservation, and interpretation of cultural resources will be considered for 1998 grants. Deadline: December 19, 1997.

The complete announcement is available via NCPTT's fax-on-demand computer at 318/357-3214, on the Web page http://www.cr.nps.gov/ncptt/, and by return e-mail (send an e-mail message to pttgrants@alpha.nsula.edu, leaving the subject and message line empty). The guidelines will be forwarded automatically.

Munitz Appointed Next CEO of Getty Trust

Barry Munitz, Chancellor of California State University, has been appointed the next President and Chief Executive Officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust. He will assume his new post January 5, 1998, succeeding Harold M. Williams, who will retire.

When the new Getty Center opens December 16, 1997, all seven Getty organizations under the Getty Trust umbrella will be on the same campus. They are:

J. Paul Getty Museum

Getty Conservation Institute

Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities

Getty Education Institute for the Arts

Getty Information Institute

Getty Leadership Institute for Museum Management

Getty Grant Program

The endowment of the J. Paul Getty Trust is $4.3 billion.

New RLG Workshop on Digital Imaging

The Research Libraries Group will be offering a new two-and-a-half day workshop on "Managing Digital Imaging Projects" five times in the next 12 months:

Oct. 27-29, at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC

Early Feb. 1998, in Chicago

Late May/early June, in the UK (twice)

Late summer/early fall, in California

The workshop was developed for RLG through a contract with Cornell's Department of Preservation and Conservation, and will be taught by Anne Kenney and Oya Rieger. It will be covering, among other things, imaging and indexing requirements, technical infrastructure to support imaging and access, budgets, developing a request for information (RFI) and request for proposal (RFP) and selecting vendors, and collaboration to provide access to and maintenance of digital collections. Fee: $250 for RLG members, $350 nonmembers.

The registration deadline for the first workshop is past, but Fran Devlin at RLG member services (415/691-2239) will notify people who have expressed an interest, when applications are being taken for the other workshops.

Other services currently managed within PRESERV for RLG members, and part of the same contract with Cornell, are: RLG DigiNews, a quarterly Web-based publication, and the RLG Worksheet for Estimating Digital Reformatting Costs, available as a word-processed document or spreadsheet file; also, independently of the course, a model RFI, RFP, and contract for use in digital reformatting projects.

British Library Catalog Available on the Web

In May, the British Library launched OPAC 97, making its catalog of over 8.5 million items available on the Web. The system can be accessed at http://opac97.bl.uk.

New-York Historical Society Affiliates with NYU

After six years of failed attempts to attach itself to other institutions, the New-York Historical Society signed a five-year agreement in June to affiliate its library with New York University. Its financial condition has improved under the direction of former New York City Parks Commissioner Betsy Gotbaum, and according to American Libraries for August (p. 23), its survival no longer seems in jeopardy.

NYU will catalog and preserve the Library's collections, using a $2.8 million grant from the Mellon Foundation.

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