The 21st Annual National Archives Preservation Conference will be on
Monday, April 30 AND Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at the Marriott Inn and
Conference Center at the University of Maryland's University College
in
Adelphi, Maryland.

The conference is entitled:

Managing the Intangible
Creating, Storing and Retrieving Digital Surrogates of Historical
Materials

A synopsis is as follows:

In 2003, the National Archives (NARA) hosted a preservation conference
to examine analog versus digital reformatting methods and to debate
whether the latter is an acceptable preservation medium. In 2006, we
find that the debate is indeed over, for national and international
organizations have endorsed digital surrogates as an accepted
preservation option and have begun digitizing a wide variety of
historical materials. Questions however, abound.

This conference will give attendees an opportunity to hear a
comprehensive discussion on the essential components of the digital
preservation reformatting process. It will benefit attendees involved
with any and all media types, for there are common issues that have
implications on reformatting decisions and the approaches taken. This
conference will also benefit institutions that are contemplating
entering, or have just entered, the digital arena by providing a forum
to examine reformatting in its entirety instead of focusing just on a
narrow slice of the process.

The conference will be organized in a two-day format. The first day
will be devoted to more formal presentations while the second will be
a
combination of panel discussions and venues allowing for more
interaction between attendees and presenters.

*******************************

The conference has undergone many changes this year which are designed
to enhance your experience. The location is in a hotel rather than a
National Archives facility, permitting us to expand the program and
permit more interaction with other attendees, NARA staff, speakers and
vendors supplying goods and services to the digital preservation
field.

The registration fee for this 2-day conference is $275.00 for a
standard registration and $175.00 for a student registration. The fee
includes lunch, breaks and beverage service for both days. There will
also be an evening reception after the first day's program. For those
coming from outside of the DC Metropolitan area, you may consider
staying at the Marriott hotel that is adjacent to the conference
facility. Both of these are on the campus of the University of
Maryland
at College Park.

For more information, please contact me directly at
[log in to unmask] or at 301-837-3617. You should also check
our website on a regular basis for registration forms and updates on
the
program: http://www.archives.gov/preservation/conferences/2007/ 

Thank you and I hope to see you in April.

Richard Schneider
Conference Coordinator