Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 15, No. 27.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 06:21:36 +0100
From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org>
Subject: CALL FOR INFORMATION ON COMMERCAL EXPERTISE ON DIGITAL
PRESERVATION SOLUTIONS
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
May 17, 2001
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CALL FOR INFORMATION ON
COMMERCAL EXPERTISE IN BORN-DIGITAL PRESERVATION SOLUTIONS
Replies to be directed to <hgladney@pacbell.net>
As part of the start-up work of the new "National Digital Information
Infrastructure and Preservation Program" at the Library of Congress, here
is an important call for leads to commercial and industrial solutions to
preservation problems of "born-digital" materials.
Replies to Henry Gladney by June 8.
David Green
===========
>From: Jennifer Hodgeman <jhodgeman@nla.gov.au>
>To: "'padiforum-l@nla.gov.au'" <padiforum-l@nla.gov.au>
>>Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 16:59:04 +1000
>Reply-To: padiforum-l@nla.gov.au
This is being passed on for my colleague Henry Gladney. He and I are both
members of the Audio Engineering Society Technical Committee on Archives
Restoration and Digital Libraries.
Henry has been asked by the Library of Congress to research the commercial
sector to make sure that all items of interest have been uncovered. The last
thing that the Library of Congress wishes to do is to reinvent the wheel
with their $100,000,000 appropriation for digital archives.
The goal of this Congressional Appropriation is to develop a national
program to preserve the burgeoning amounts of digital information,
especially materials that are created only in digital formats, to ensure
their accessibility for current and future generations. As I read the
attached information the Library of Congress has been given the lead in this
project and is to work in conjunction with other agencies and libraries. The
document appended at the bottom provides the appropriation legislation
wording and some other background information.
If you are aware of a commercial solution or are a provider of a commercial
solution, please contact Dr. Gladney (see below). If you are aware of a
large-scale project planned or undertaken undertaken by a corporation for
archiving their own assets, please contact Dr. Gladney.
This project will benefit us all as it will provide advancement for a
unified framework to all of us under which we will be able to archive our
own projects.
Please respond to Dr. Gladney by close of business June 8th and please feel
free to pass this on.
Thank you very much.
Richard L. Hess
Principal Consultant
National TeleConsultants
Glendale, CA
Personal: richard@richardhess.com www.richardhess.com
==============original message====================
On behalf of an advisory committee convened by the Library of Congress, I am
writing to ask for your help. Deanna Marcum, president of the Council on
Information and Library Resources and a member of the advisory committee,
has asked for a quick survey of technology and projects that would inform
the Library in establishing a preservation program for "born digital"
content.
In case your associates are not aware of the project that stimulates this
inquiry, I am attaching an article from the New York Times and a summary of
the Congressional appropriation statement. For a comprehensive view of the
underlying challenge, I recommend LC 21: A Digital Strategy for the Library
of Congress, published by the National Academy Press about a year ago.
Among the questions identified in the report is what relationships should
exist between the Library's digital initiative and similar activities in
other institutions. In setting priorities for the digital preservation
program, I expect that the advisory committee will seek outside views about
this and will be particularly interested in comments from organizations that
have considered their own versions of that question.
The committee is well informed about related activities in the federal
government and universities. However, it is missing insight into the
commercial and industrial sectors. The scope of the eventual archive is all
kinds of "born digital" materials: books, papers, images, audio, and video.
I believe that the Library's biggest challenge will be the immense amount of
content available. The advisory committee will grapple with an initial
selection policy, but collection policy is likely to be a perpetual
question.
To help the advisory committee achieve a quick start, I would be grateful
for your help in identifying a few people who could lead us to understand in
broad terms what is going on and what pools of expertise might be consulted.
Please contact me at the address below.
Regards, Henry
Henry Gladney (408)867-5454
20044 Glen Brae Drive, Saratoga CA 95070
<http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/>http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/
P.S. Please feel free to forward this request.
==========================================================================
Here are the documents referred to as "attached"
MAKING OMNIBUS CONSOLIDATED AND EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR
FISCAL YEAR 2001 (Public Law 106554)
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
For the Library of Congress, $25,000,000, to remain available until
expended, for necessary salaries and expenses of the National Digital
Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program; and an additional
$75,000,000 to remain available until expended, for such purposes:
Provided, That the portion of such additional $75,000,000, which may be
expended shall not exceed an amount equal to the matching contributions
(including contributions other than money) for such purposes that (1) are
received by the Librarian of Congress for the program from non-Federal
sources, and (2) are received before March 31, 2003:
Provided further, That such program shall be carried out in accordance with
a plan or plans approved by the Committee on House Administration of the
House of Representatives, the Committee on Rules and Administration of the
Senate, the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives,
and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate:
Provided further, That of the total amount appropriated, $5,000,000 may be
expended before the approval of a plan to develop such a plan, and to
collect or preserve essential digital information which otherwise would be
uncollectible:
Provided further, That the balance in excess of such $5,000,000 shall not
be expended without approval in advance by the Committee on Appropriations
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Appropriations of the
Senate:
Provided further, That the plan under this heading shall be developed by
the Librarian of Congress jointly with entities of the Federal government
with expertise in telecommunications technology and electronic commerce
policy (including the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the White
House
Office of Science and Technology Policy) and the National Archives and
Records Administration, and with the participation of representatives of
other Federal, research, and private libraries and institutions with
expertise in the collection and maintenance of archives of digital materials
(including the National Library of Medicine, the National Agricultural
Library, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Research
Libraries Group, the Online Computer Library Center, and the Council on
Library and Information Resources) and representatives of private business
organizations which are involved in efforts to preserve, collect, and
disseminate information in digital formats (including the Open eBook Forum):
Provided further, That notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective
with the One Hundred Seventh Congress and each succeeding Congress the
chair of the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch of the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives shall serve as a member of
the Joint Committee on the Library with respect to the Library's financial
management, organization, budget development and implementation, and
program development and administration, as well as any other element of the
mission of the Library of Congress which is subject to the requirements of
Federal law.
MAKING OMNIBUS CONSOLIDATED AND EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR
FISCAL YEAR 2001 (Public Law 106554)
Statement of Managers Language from the Conference Report (House Report
1061033)
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
The agreement provides $100,000,000 to the Library of Congress to establish
a national digital information infrastructure and preservation program. Of
this amount, $25,000,000 is provided immediately and remains available until
expended. An additional amount up to $75,000,000 is provided to match
dollar-for-dollar any nonfederal contributions to this program, including
in-kind contributions, that are received before March 31, 2003. The
information and technology industry that has created this new medium should
be a contributing partner in addressing digital access and preservation
issues inherent in the new digital information environment. This program is
a major undertaking to develop standards and a nationwide collecting
strategy to build a national repository of digital materials.
The Library is directed to develop a phased implementation plan for this
program jointly with Federal entities with expertise in telecommunications
technology and electronic commerce policy and with participation of other
Federal and non-Federal entities. After consultation with the Joint Committee
on the Library, membership of which is changed to include the chair of the
Legislative Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives, the Library shall seek approval of the program plan from
the Committee on House Administration, the Committee on Rules and
Administration of the Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives and the Senate. The Library of Congress is
authorized to expend up to $5,000,000, before approval of the plan, for the
development of the plan and for collecting or preserving digital information
that may otherwise vanish during the plan development and approval cycle.
The overall plan should set forth a strategy for the Library of Congress, in
collaboration with other Federal and non-Federal entities, to identify a
national network of libraries and other organizations with responsibilities
for collecting digital materials that will provide access to and maintain
those materials. In addition to developing this strategy, the plan shall set
forth, in concert with the Copyright Office, the policies, protocols, and
strategies for the long-term preservation of such materials, including the
technological infrastructure required at the Library of Congress. In
developing the plan, the Library should be mindful of the conclusions drawn
in a recent National Academy of Sciences report concerning the Library's
trend toward insularity and isolation from its clients and peers in the
transition toward digital content.
Library to Lead National Effort to Develop Digital Information
Infrastructure and Preservation Program: U.S. Congress Provides $100
Million Special Appropriation in Support of Project
The Library of Congress has been empowered by the U. S. Congress to
develop a national program to preserve the burgeoning amounts of digital
information, especially materials that are created only in digital formats,
to ensure their accessibility for current and future generations.
The Library of Congress began in 1998 to develop a digital strategy
with a group of senior managers assessing the roles and responsibilities of
the Library in the electronic environment. At the same time, Librarian of
Congress James H. Billington commissioned the National Research Council
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Academy of
Sciences (NAS) to evaluate the Library's readiness to meet the challenges of
the rapidly evolving digital world.
The NAS report, LC 21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of
Congress, recommended that the Library, working with other federal and
non-federal institutions, take the lead in a national, cooperative effort to
archive and preserve digital information.
"This collaborative strategy will permit the long-term acquisition,
storage and preservation of digital materials, that will assure access to
the growing electronic historical and cultural record of our nation," said
Dr. Billington. "Just as the Congress enabled the Library of Congress to
begin the last century by making its printed catalog cards widely available,
the Congress has enabled its Library to begin this century by building a
digital record and making it available in the information age." In December
2000, the 106th Congress appropriated $100 million for this effort, which
instructs the Library to spend an initial $25 million to develop and execute
a congressionally approved strategic plan for a National Digital Information
Infrastructure and Preservation Program. Congress specified that, of this
amount, $5 million may be spent during the initial phase for planning as
well as the acquisition and preservation of digital information that may
otherwise vanish.
The legislation authorizes as much as $75 million of federal funding
to be made available as this amount is matched by nonfederal donations,
including in-kind contributions, through March 31, 2003. The effect of a
government-wide recission of .22 percent in late December was to reduce this
special appropriation to $99.8 million.
The Library will consult with federal partners to assess joint
planning considerations for shared responsibilities. The Library will also
seek participation from the nonfederal sector and will execute its overall
strategy in cooperation with the library, creative, publishing, technology
and copyright communities in this country and abroad.
The legislation calls for the Library to work jointly with the
Secretary of Commerce, the director of the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy, and the National Archives and Records Administration. The
legislation also directs the Library to seek the participation of "other
federal, research and private libraries and institutions with expertise in
the collection and maintenance of archives of digital materials," including
the National Library of Medicine, the National Agricultural Library, the
Research Libraries Group, the Online Computer Library Center and the Council
on Library and Information Resources.
Laura Campbell, the Library's recently appointed Associate Librarian
for Strategic Initiatives, will oversee these efforts. She noted that, "as
the national library and home of the U.S. Copyright Office, the Library of
Congress must lead this effort, which poses enormous challenges and exciting
opportunities. To succeed, we must have broad participation from the public
and private sectors."
New York Times, January 12, 2001,
Contact: Guy Lamolinara (202) 707-9217
Richard L. Hess richard@richardhess.com
Glendale, CA
USA
<http://www.richardhess.com/>http://www.richardhess.com/
Web page: folk and church music, photography, and
broadcast engineering
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