ALCTS Forum:  A conversation on Digital Preservation

Monday, June 25, 8 - 10 am, Morial Convention Center, Room 353/355

Preservation of e-journal content has become a pressing concern as more
and more libraries drop print copies of journals to rely on their
electronic counterparts. On September 13, 2005 a group of academic
librarians, university administrators, and others participated in a
meeting at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation offices in New York where
they discussed electronic journal preservation.  As a result of this
important meeting, the document "Urgent Action Needed to Preserve
Scholarly Electronic Journals"
(http://www.diglib.org/pubs/waters051015.htm) was issued to the
scholarly communications community at large.  The document has been
endorsed by the Association of Research Libraries, ACRL, ALCTS, and the
Medical Library Association, among others, and calls for action on four
key points:
*	preservation of electronic journals is a kind of insurance
*	qualified preservation archives would provide a minimal set of
well-defined services
*	libraries must invest in a qualified archiving solution
*	research and academic libraries and associated academic
institutions must effectively demand archival deposit by publishers as a
condition of licensing electronic journals
 Speakers
*	Moderator: Robert Kieft, Librarian of the College, Haverford
College
*	Gordon Tibbitts, President, Blackwell Publishing Inc. (US)
*	Robert H. McDonald, Associate Director of Libraries for
Technology and Research, Florida State University
The panel will address issues and raise questions like the following:
How can libraries and publishers move from a philosophical understanding
of the necessity of digital preservation to productive and concerted
action?  What can libraries do to encourage publisher involvement?  How
will libraries and publishers collaborate to support community
initiatives?  And what are the economic issues involved in building a
secure future for a digital history?
ALCTS Forums are designed to provide the opportunity to hear experts
discuss important topics of current concern to the ALCTS community.  The
second hour of the forum is reserved for questions from the floor and
for broad-ranging discussion.

Marilyn Geller
Collection Management Librarian
Lesley University Library
30 Mellen Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: mgeller@lesley.edu
Phone: (617) 349-8859