Dear Colleagues,

There have been some exciting developments in the area of preservation this year:

New Name for Current Working Group: PRESERVATION & DIGITIZATION
Following the approval of the FLICC Executive Board and the current working group members, the FLICC Preservation & Binding Working Group has changed its name to Preservation & Digitization Working Group (P&D). The change reflects the need to focus on digital reformatting as well as the preservation of and access to digital materials. The P&D Working Group intends to interact with other established groups developing standards and best practices. P&D will also provide guidance to FEDLINK in its oversight of the new FedScan contract and the development of other digitization procurement vehicles. 

The P&D Working Group will continue to discuss traditional preservation services such as binding, conservation, microfilm, facsimile creation, duplication of photographic materials, collection assessment, and other consultation, and will serve as a resource to FEDLINK in its preparation for the renewal of Preservation Services contracts for FY2010.

New Working Group: DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
On February 25, 2008, FLICC and the Library of Congress Preservation Directorate sponsored a symposium "Safety Net: Networking for Disaster Response." A group of about 60 Washington-area federal librarians and preservation professionals gathered to discuss establishing a cooperative for the purpose of effective disaster response and what would be needed to sustain it. One of the outcomes was a request to form a FLICC working group to assist the Safety Net effort. Thus, the Disaster Preparedness Working Group was created. Its mission is to oversee the Washington area cooperative, to assist efforts to create other regional cooperatives of federal libraries where there is interest, raise awareness of the need to prepare for disasters, and to provide appropriate training and tools for disaster preparedness for the FLICC membership as a whole.

The first meeting of the Disaster Preparedness Working Group is planned to be held during the next Safety Net meeting on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at the Library of Congress. The program topic will be steps in creating a COOP, focusing on library collections and services. A separate announcement with program details and registration information will be posted soon.

Call for New Members 
If you have an interest in preservation, you may want to become involved in one of these working groups. Please contact Anne Harrison at FLICC/FEDLINK on 202-707-4834; [log in to unmask] to join or for more information.


-Anne

Anne Harrison
FEDLINK Network Program Specialist
Library of Congress
Federal Library and Information Center Committee
Phone: 202-707-4834  Fax: 202-707-4828 
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