Date:         Tue, 12 Mar 2002 12:15:46 -0500
From:         "Kim O'Leary" <oleary@NEDCC.ORG>
Subject:      NEDCC Off the Wall and Online Conference

The Northeast Document Conservation Center Presents
Off the Wall and Online:
Providing Web Access to Cultural Collections
May 30-31, 2002

If you have time for only one conference this year, opt for Off the Wall
and Online at The National Heritage Museum (formerly The Museum of Our
National Heritage) in Lexington, Massachusetts.  This cutting-edge
conference from the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in
Andover, Massachusetts is designed to serve institutions that are
digitizing or planning to digitize collections and also those who simply
want to make their Websites more interesting.  As the emergence of the
World Wide Web has made the world smaller, museums and their online
audiences have grown tremendously.  This event will address the questions
and challenges facing both large and small institutions that are
undertaking digitization projects and putting images from their
collections online for educational purposes, research, and public
relations.

The NEDCC conference will bring together museum educators, technical
experts, and administrators to discuss the new access opportunities as
well as often perplexing issues of quality versus cost and longevity of
the digital files.  A keynote address by Beverly Sheppard, Deputy Director
of IMLS will focus on outreach to diverse communities.  New evaluation
data will be presented to help define the online audience and determine
what sorts of programs are most effective in engaging this audience.

Topics will include:

- The Changing Role of Museums
- Attracting Visitors to a Website
- Cooperating to Build Virtual Collections
- Reaching Out to Diverse Audiences
- Designing a Website
- Quality of Scanned Images
- Web-based Education
- Image Capture for Preservation & Access

The conference will be held on May 30-31, 2002 at The National Heritage
Museum (formerly The Museum of Our National Heritage) in Lexington,
Massachusetts.  A National Museum Leadership Grant from the Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS) supports this high-profile event.
IMLS is an independent, federal, grant-making agency that fosters
leadership, innovation and education learning through museums and
libraries. Co-sponsors are the New England Museum Association and The
National Heritage Museum.  NEDCC also receives financial support for its
field service activities from the National Endowment for the Humanities
and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Registration information is available on NEDCC's Web site at www.nedcc.org
or contact Ginny Hughes at ghughes@nedcc.org