Preservation efforts in the library community

Valrie MinsonUniversity of Florida,USAIN President, 2014-2015

TodayWhat is being collected?Different institutional approachesNational and regional initiativesChallengesNext steps

What are we collecting?

Institutional Record

Experiment Station & Extension documents

Images and correspondence

Historical maps and surveys

Data and science

Librarians, Archivists, Historians, oh myUniversity Archivists: institutional

recordLibrarian: institutional record and

support current scientific research

Special Collections/Archivists: people or donor driven, scattershot collecting

Digital Curators: often funding driven

Historians: all inclusiveLibrary organizations

Preservation Initiatives

National Preservation Program for Agricultural Literature

“The purple book”

Adopted in 1993

Blueprint for cooperative preservation

http://www.usain.org/Preservation/preservinitiative.html

National Preservation Program for Agricultural Literature

◦State and local literature (1820-1945)

◦Core Historical Literature of Agriculture

(4432 monographs; 267 serials)

National Preservation Program for Agricultural LiteratureFederal documentsPre-1862 imprints

What are we NOT preserving?◦Limited manuscripts & archives◦Seed catalogs◦Newspapers◦Extension data◦Data sets

Local/Regional - Newspaper Projects

RegionalCenters of Excellence

◦USDA and agriculture agenciesASERL Journal Retention Project

◦Lists than 1,000 agriculture journals ◦Identifies “core” titles, selected by

the NAL

National Project Ceres

◦Funded by College & Research Libraries (CRL)

◦Preserve print and increase digital access

◦Agricultural economics, rural life, home ec

◦Core Historical Literature of Agriculture

Digitization and PreservationSpace drives us. Digitization State-wide storage facilitiesRegional journal retention:

ASERL, WEST, and othersFocus on the institution

Challenges & GapsRethink how we collectIndividual, institution, local,

regional, state, national needsMore systematic collecting of

storiesPrint does not mean accessibleFinding Aids do not always aid

findingAgricultural Scholars Council