12.0453 announcements

Humanist Discussion Group (humanist@kcl.ac.uk)
Tue, 23 Feb 1999 18:36:40 +0000 (BST)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 12, No. 453.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

[1] From: "Bullard, Giuliana" <GBullard@imls.fed.us> (190)
From: David Green <david@ninch.org>
Subject: Diane Frankel to Step Down from IMLS (fwd)

[2] From: David Green <david@ninch.org> (56)
Subject: Manuscript Digitization Demonstration Project: LC
Final Report

[3] From: David Green <david@ninch.org> (42)
Subject: BOOK: EAD: Context, Theory and Case Studies

--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 14:36:52 -0500
From: "Bullard, Giuliana" <GBullard@imls.fed.us>
Subject: Diane Frankel to Step Down from IMLS

Please pass on if appropriate. Apologies for any cross posting.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
February 18, 1999 Mamie Bittner, 202-606-8339

Diane Frankel
Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services
To Step Down

Washington, DC -- Diane Frankel announced today that she will be
stepping down as Director of the Institute of Museum and Library
Services at the end of March 1999. Originally appointed by President
William Clinton to be the Director of the Institute of Museum Services,
Frankel led the agency through its transition to include federal library
as well as museum programs.

President Clinton said, "Diane Frankel's outstanding leadership skills
have expertly guided the Institute of Museum and Library Services
through a period of growth and change. Hillary and I are indeed
grateful for her five and one half years of dedicated service."

Frankel said, "As Director of the Institute I have had an unparalleled
opportunity to see the work of our museums and libraries nationwide.
They have incredible power to offer connections. They link people to
ideas, to their communities, to the past and to the future. As a nation
of learners, we depend on the resources of museums and libraries
throughout our lives. It has been a great privilege to serve the
American people in such a wonderful way - making museum and library
resources more accessible to people across the country."

During her five and one half years of federal service, Frankel
established a record of achievement that has helped bring museum and
library service to millions of Americans nationwide. On November 17,
1993, when Frankel was sworn into office by Secretary of Education
Richard Riley, she announced her vision to "raise everyone's
understanding about the vital role museums play as lifelong educational
institutions, as places where families, friends, school children and
communities can explore and discover together." She said that, "not one
institution could afford to remain on the sidelines when so many
important issues face our communities." One of her first acts was to
establish an annual National Award for Museum Service to recognize
museums that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to serve their entire
communities. These museums make an impact by helping communities to use
the museum to address the educational, environmental and social
challenges they face. To date, nineteen museums of all types have met
with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to receive this prestigious
award.

In 1994, when all federal spending for small programs was undergoing
congressional review, Frankel was an excellent spokesperson for the
importance of a federal role in leveraging other public and private
support. Her outstanding leadership skill was a key factor in
maintaining federal support for museums. By 1996, Congress expressed
its confidence in the agency by expanding its mission to include
administration of federal library programs. This action increased the
Institute's annual budget from $20,000,000 to more than $180,000,000.

An able manager, Frankel impressed the library community by overseeing
a smooth transition to a new set of programs, free of burdensome
regulations, resulting in more flexibility to use funds to address
high priority library needs and allowing federal library staff to
substantially improve customer service. She convened the first joint
meetings of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
and the National Museum Services Board to provide policy advice. She
worked with leaders in the library field to develop the guidelines for
the new federal library competitive grant program known as National
Leadership Grants.

At the time the new National Leadership Grant guidelines were released,
Frankel said "There were many issues to consider: the history of federal
funding for libraries, the new opportunity to support collaboration,
recognition of the potential of technology to expand services, the need
to establish a home for activities of national significance, and above
all, how to best serve the public to whom we are ultimately responsible.
Through our joint efforts, I believe that this program will support
projects of national significance to enhance the quality of services
nationwide and provide an important opportunity for collaboration
between museums and libraries."

As part of the creation of the new agency combining both museum and
library programs in 1996, Frankel reorganized the agency and initiated a
new Office of Research and Technology. With the strong support of
museum and library grantees she has begun efforts that will have
long-term impact improving program evaluation and outcome reporting.
Also in that year, the twentieth anniversary of the Institute of Museum
Services, the agency published To Listen and To Lead, a leadership guide
for federal support of museums. The result of a year-long series of
town meetings about the role of museums and of the agency, this
publication is a blueprint for the future which will guide federal
support for museums into the 21st century.

In FY 1998, Frankel announced the first grants under the new Library
Services and Technology Act. These awards help libraries to use
technology to bring information to people in new and interesting ways
and to assure that library service is accessible to all - especially
those that have difficulty using the library. These awards also offer
an opportunity for libraries and museums to work together and form
innovative partnerships.

Frankel believes strongly in the power of partnership. She recognizes
the important responsibility museums, libraries and other community
organizations have to enter into creative collaborations. Together they
can be resources for life-long learning and active partners with formal
education.

To expand museums' involvement in their communities Frankel launched a
series of leadership initiatives. The first initiative --- grants to
strengthen museum partnerships with schools -- involved 82,000 students,
228 schools and 82 museums over a three-year period, 1993-1996. To
promote promising practices the agency held a national conference and
published a case study workbook titled True Needs True Partners. The
agency recently released the first national survey of the status of
museum school partnerships in the U.S. This survey will serve as a
baseline for years to come.

Similarly, a leadership initiative begun in 1997 -- grants to help
museums enhance the quality of civic life -- has impacted thousands of
people in all age groups. New partners include programs for the aging,
regional Head Start programs, neighborhood housing groups, urban
leagues, mental health facilities and public health nursing
associations, churches, libraries and economic development. A national
conference in St. Louis, Missouri brought together museums and their
community partners from throughout the nation.

Through testimony to Congress, countless speeches, travel throughout the
United States, interviews, meetings with library and museum leaders and
disseminating promising practices, Frankel has demonstrated a persuasive
energy and enthusiasm for the importance of learning throughout one's
lifetime. She is an articulate advocate for the public benefit of
strong museums and libraries.

Frankel leaves the agency with an Administration budget request for FY
2000 that is the highest in the Institute's history. The $188,500,000
request to Congress includes a $10 million increase in museum programs,
which will support the first federal program specifically designed to
address the technology needs of all types of museums. Frankel said,
"This funding is critical to assure that as we enter the 21st century
the public has the ability to access museum collections for lifelong
learning and in classrooms throughout the world." The budget includes a
$4 million increase in library competitive grants and grants to states.
These grants help libraries use technology to improve library service
and bring service to underserved populations.

Frankel will join the James Irvine Foundation. She has been appointed
Program Director in Children, Youth and Families. In addition to
managing that portfolio, Frankel will be responsible for the development
of a multi-year initiative to create and support networks of
organizations, institutions and coalitions committed to advancing the
educational development of school-aged children in California
communities.

Frankel will provide leadership to a team of program directors,
associates, project managers and consultants in the development of this
new initiative. She will be responsible for developing the program's
conceptual framework, its goals and objectives and the grantmaking
strategies that will support capacity building of community
organization, community mobilization, parent involvement, media
engagement and project evaluation.

The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking
foundation dedicated to enhancing the social, economic, and physical
quality of life throughout California, and to enriching the State's
intellectual and cultural environment. The foundation was established
in 1937 by James Irvine, the California pioneer whose 110,000-acre ranch
in Southern California was among the largest privately owned land
holding in the State. With assets of $1.2 billion, the foundation makes
grants of approximately $48 million annually for the people of
California.

Frankel previously served as Executive Director of the Bay Area
Discovery Museum, located in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area;
the museum is dedicated to bringing nature, art, science, theater, and
dance to children and their families. From 1985 to 1986, she served as
Dean of the School of Liberal and Professional Arts at the John F.
Kennedy University and from 1980 to 1985, as Director of the Center for
Museum Studies. She was Assistant Director of Education at the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art from 1976 to 1980. From 1972 to 1973,
she was Outreach Educator at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and
Swaziland. She served on the Council of the Association of Youth
Museums. She is currently Chairperson of ArtTable's Washington D.C.
Chapter, a member of The Women's Forum of Washington, D.C., a member of
The Getty Information Institute Visiting Committee, and a member of the
Smithsonian Council. In 1996, she received the Museum Education
Committee award for Outstanding Leadership on behalf of education
reform and strengthening museum-school partnerships. Ms. Frankel
holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.A.
in Museum Education from the George Washington University.

Until the President nominates and the Senate confirms a new director, an
acting director will administer the day-to-day operations of the agency.
The Museum and Library Services Act (P.L. 104-208) provides that the
Presidentially appointed Senate confirmed director of the Institute of
Museum and Library Services shall rotate between an individual with
library and information science expertise and an individual with museum
service expertise. The next Presidential appointee to be Director of
the Institute of Museum and Library Services will have expertise in
library and information services and will be appointed for a four year
term.

# # #
===============================================================

David L. Green
Executive Director
NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR A NETWORKED CULTURAL HERITAGE
21 Dupont Circle, NW
Washington DC 20036
http://www.ninch.org
david@ninch.org
202/296-5346 202/872-0886 fax

==============================================================
See and search back issues of NINCH-ANNOUNCE at
<http://www.cni.org/Hforums/ninch-announce/>.
==============================================================

--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 18:35:45 +0000
From: David Green <david@ninch.org>
Subject: Manuscript Digitization Demonstration Project: LC Final Report

NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
February 22, 1999

MANUSCRIPT DIGITIZATION DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
Final Report Published by Library of Congress
HTML Version: <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pictel/index.html>
PDF Version: <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pictel/pictel.pdf>

>Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 16:12:02 -0500
>From: Stephanie Bianchi <sbianchi@NSF.GOV>
>>To: DIGLIB@INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA

******************************************************************
Report released at the Library of Congress National Digital Library
Program at the American Memory website.

Final Report of the Library of Congress Manuscript Document Digitization
Demonstration Project (October 1998)

"This demonstration project produced images of 10,000 document pages from
the New Deal era Federal Theatre collection held by the Music Division at
the Library of Congress. The project was sponsored by the Library's
Preservation Directorate, overseen by the National Digital Library Program
(NDLP), and carried out from 1994-97 by Picture Elements, Inc., of
Berkeley, California, and Boulder, Colorado. The final report is
available at the Library of Congress website at this URL:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pictel/index.html.

"The project was guided by these questions: What type of image is best
suited for the digitization of large manuscript collections, especially
collections consisting mostly of twentieth century typescripts? What
level of image quality strikes the best balance between production
economics and the requirements set by future uses of the images? Will the
same high quality image that might be appropriate for preservation
reformatting also provide efficient online access for researchers?

"A steering committee of Library staff members guided the project.
Recognizing the variations in the types and condition of the paper and in
the density of the imprints and markings on the sheets, the committee
selected grayscale and color images for the highest-quality images. The
committee found that the importance of these manuscripts lies in their
information value and agreed to accept slight aesthetic degradation of the
images so long as legibility was not impaired. Thus a slight degree of
"lossy" JPEG compression was applied to the highest-quality images.

"The committee selected high-contrast bitonal images for access, influenced
by the model of microfilming and by considerations of ease of printing.
After the consultants completed the project, however, the Library produced
an additional set of grayscale and color access images in the GIF format.
This practice, which the NDLP has continued, reflects the need to present
document images in World Wide Web browser software as well as a desire to
retain the tonality of the originals."

===============================================================

David L. Green
Executive Director
NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR A NETWORKED CULTURAL HERITAGE
21 Dupont Circle, NW
Washington DC 20036
http://www.ninch.org
david@ninch.org
202/296-5346 202/872-0886 fax

==============================================================
See and search back issues of NINCH-ANNOUNCE at
<http://www.cni.org/Hforums/ninch-announce/>.

--[4]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 18:37:19 +0000
From: David Green <david@ninch.org>
Subject: BOOK: EAD: Context, Theory and Case Studies

NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
February 22, 1999

ENCODED ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION: CONTEXT, THEORY AND CASE STUDIES
<http://www.archivists.org/publications/stds99/index.html>

The Society of American Archivists has recently published

ENCODED ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION: CONTEXT, THEORY AND CASE STUDIES

This book makes available in a single volume the twelve articles that were
published in the summer and fall 1997 issues of the _American Archivist_
(vol. 60, nos. 3&4), which appeared in August/September 1998. The authors
of the six context and theory papers all were members of the original EAD
development team. They explore the context within which EAD was developed,
the essentials of its structured approach to encoding finding aid data,
and the role that EAD is meant to play in individual repositories and for
the archival profession as a whole. The six case studies were written by
archivists at Harvard University, the Library of Congress, the Minnesota
Historical Society, the Univ. of Vermont, the Univ. of Virginia, and Yale
University. Edited by Jackie Dooley.

Published by Society of American Archivists (1998). 178 pp., soft cover.
Product Code 349

$40 (SAA members $30) plus shipping (U.S.A. $6.75; Canada $9.50; all other
countries $10.50). Prepayment required. Visa and MasterCard welcome.

TO ORDER, CONTACT:
Troy Sturdivant
Society of American Archivists
527 S. Wells St., 5th Floor
Chicago, IL 60607-3922

USA phone 312.922.0140
fax 312.347.1452
e-mail tsturdivant@archivists.org

ORDER FORM: <http://www.archivists.org/publications/webcat98/page28.html>
===============================================================

David L. Green
Executive Director
NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR A NETWORKED CULTURAL HERITAGE
21 Dupont Circle, NW
Washington DC 20036
http://www.ninch.org
david@ninch.org
202/296-5346 202/872-0886 fax

==============================================================
See and search back issues of NINCH-ANNOUNCE at
<http://www.cni.org/Hforums/ninch-announce/>.
==============================================================

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