This program at AALL, sponsored by TS-SIS, may be of interest to many members of ALL-SIS. Scheduled for Sunday, July 13, from 3:00 - 4:00 PM, the program will address the role of print repositories in an electronic age, as well as offer insights, concepts, and logistics of the program. The program will be presented by Kent McKeever and Jerry Dupont, both members of the Legal Information Preservation Alliance’s (LlPA) Print Retention Program, and myself.
This program concept is to physically preserve 5 to 6 copies of selected core U.S. legal materials. Online resources have practically eliminated the need for print versions of legal materials, however often the print is the only “official” version when an electronic version is questionable.
Participation in LIPA is open to anyone who has the selected materials and can offer access that is secure and climate controlled. This sharing of archival repositories would result in the preservation of print legal materials, possibly sharing access to jointly held materials, as well as providing the housing and proper treatment for last, best copies.
The Print Retention Program has been developing this concept, taking into account input from the community in general. This program explores crucial issues such as: Must the print repositories be for preservation but non-retrieval, or is retrieval from extremely low-use open storage acceptable? What are the tradeoffs between regional shared facilities vs. making separate arrangements for off-site storage? How can information about the status of specific titles be shared? What considerations for administration and coordination need to be taken into account?
LIPA has established a preliminary informal agreement with the Law Library Microform Consortium (LLMC) to set up a control website. The initial record from Columbia & Harvard can be seen at www.llmc.com/AboutLIPA.asp.
This program will inform participants of the materials covered, the technical steps, and the legal steps that have been initiated, and will explore the future steps needed. Please join Kent, Jerry, and me as we share our visions, and the future of print legal materials.