October 16, 2000 "To Preserve and Protect" Symposium to be Held at Library Oct. 30-31

A Library of Congress Bicentennial symposium, "To Preserve and Protect: The Strategic Stewardship of Cultural Resources," will bring together professionals from across the country to discuss preservation and security challenges for archival materials, including those in digital format, on Oct. 30-31. The symposium is one of several events held in association with the 200th birthday of the Library in 2000.

This two-day event will be held at the Library from 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m. in affiliation with the Association of Research Libraries and the Federal Library and Information Center Committee. The symposium will provide an opportunity for colleagues to share how they are handling concerns related to setting standards, using measurements and justifying budgets. Plenary and breakout sessions have been designed to enable participants to explore solutions to the problems of finding an appropriate balance between open access to materials and the requirement to protect and preserve them for future generations.

Speakers include Nancy Cline and Jan Merrill-Oldham, Harvard University; Werner Gundersheimer, Folger Shakespeare Library; Jeff Field, National Endowment for the Humanities; Lynne Chaffinch, Federal Bureau of Investigation; James Reilly, Image Permanence Institute; Clifford Lynch, Coalition for Networked Information; Maxwell Anderson, Whitney Museum of American Art; Deanna Marcum, Council on Library and Information Resources; Jim Neal, Johns Hopkins University, Camila Alire, Colorado State University; and Nancy Gwinn, Smithsonian Institution. Winston Tabb and Nancy Davenport from the Library of Congress are also on the program.

These experts will discuss the many challenges confronting the stewards of America's cultural heritage including such issues as: developing preservation and security strategies and measuring their effectiveness; coping with deterioration, vandalism and theft; dealing with the preservation and security challenges of electronic information; recent innovations in security and preservation; and the advisability of cooperating nationally and internationally to preserve and secure collections.

Tours of the art and architecture of the magnificently restored Thomas Jefferson Building and of other areas of the Library of Congress of interest to symposium participants will be available.

For more information, including an agenda, visit the Library of Congress Bicentennial Web site at https://www.loc.gov/bicentennial/symposia.html or contact Kathy Eighmey, Project Coordinator, at (202) 707-4836. The program cost is $225.