The Library of Congress and ReCAP received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a project to evaluate the condition of bibliographically identical materials from partner libraries across different regions of the United States. The “Assessing the National Collections” project will provide rigorous scientific data on the characteristics of these materials, using test methods developed in the Library’s Preservation Research and Testing Division. Outcomes of the project will support decision-making for national cooperative print archive efforts, and an advisory body has convened to guide the program and help to connect its research outcomes to professional issues. My remarks for the opening meeting follow:
There are two themes in this project, one strategic and the other scientific.
As Director for Preservation at the Library of Congress, I am trying to be conscious about how we can make investments in the National Collection that naturally or inherently support preservation efforts nation-wide, especially when those preservation efforts are carried out in a collaborative or cooperative manner.
Shared print archiving programs are a natural area for attention and they are the strategic theme of the project. The Library needs to understand how it can best engage and it needs to discern if this area of activity can advance the Library’s vision that “all Americans are connected to the Library of Congress.” The Library also needs to learn where robust capabilities in the field already exist, which we can adopt, support, and incorporate into our efforts to provide a “universal and enduring source of knowledge” to our stakeholders.
This project addresses some of the fundamentals that need attention within that strategic area, by helping us benchmark our collections against one another. To supplement the support from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation and achieve greater value from this effort, the Preservation Directorate is making a number of parallel investments. One is deploying our Junior Fellows to collect matching titles from our own collections so that we benchmark the National Collection against collections nation-wide. Another is using this project as leverage to advance the Library’s goals for curating research data.
The other theme, and the heart of this project, is science: we need to set a high standard and make sure this work is rigorous, methodologically sound, and advances the level of discourse in the field of library preservation.
I encourage us all to remember that we have three years ahead of us where the principal task is making sure we conduct this research thoroughly and accurately. It’s important to all parties – our stakeholders, our own institutions, and to government – that the investments that are being made in this work produce impeccable research.
This work moves towards an important strategic goal, universal and reliable access to collections, but we need to make sure that we get there through a carefully designed and implemented research and testing program.