Impact of training and institutional context on book conservation practices
A web-based survey of book conservation treatment practices in research libraries was conducted in 2007. Survey results were summarized in a 2010 report that documented standard practice, moderate-use, and low-use book conservation treatments for special collections and general collections in research libraries in the United States. Similarities and differences between special and general collections practices were highlighted. In an effort to better understand the differences in practices observed in the first report, the authors revisit the data to identify whether, and how, the demographic characteristics of book conservation practitioners are correlated with particular treatment practices. Noting the trend suggested in the literature toward both hybrid facilities—those dedicated to both special and general collections—as well as hybrid practitioners, the authors were especially curious whether such facilities and practitioners might approach treatment differently. The data collected in 2007 were analyzed to identify whether key demographic variables—such as practitioner training, type of collections served by a practitioner, size of library, type of library, and type of conservation facility—were correlated with specific treatment practices. In this report, specific trends associated with the demographic variables are identified and explored. Areas of further research suggested by the results of the study are identified.
The State of Preservation Programs in American College and Research Libraries: Building a Common Understanding and Action Agenda. Optimizing Collections and Services for Scholarly Use.
Additional copies are available for $20 per copy. Orders must be placed through CLIR's Web site. At the time the preservation study was conducted, she also served as director of programs at the Council on Library and Information Resources. For the past decade, Ms. Kenney has done research in digitization and the digital preservation of library and archival materials. She is the coauthor of three award-winning books and many articles and reports. A Fellow and past president of the Society of American Archivists, Ms. Kenney currently serves on the Standing Committee on Cuban Libraries and Archives, a joint committee of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba and the Working Group on Cuba. Deirdre C. Stam is director of the New York Center for Books and Reading. She is setting up a program in the history of the book for the Palmer School of Librarianship, Long Island University. Ms. Stam has pursued research into American book culture of the nineteenth century and into computer applications to art information issues. She has served on the faculties of schools of library and information science at She has also served as executive secretary for the Bibliographical Society of America and the Museum Computer Network, and was Syracuse University's first Web master. Alliance for Preservation conducted a joint study to assess the state of preservation programs in American academic libraries. They were assisted by representatives from leading liberal arts colleges, land grant institutions, preservation educators, and the Preservation and Reformatting Section of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services of the Ameri-can Library Association. Institutions targeted in this study were members of ARL (122 institutions) and the University Libraries Group (22 midsize universities), as well as 74 leading liberal arts colleges (all members of the Oberlin Group) and 20 major non-ARL land grant institutions. Anne R. Kenney, then director of programs at CLIR, served as project director. Deirdre C. Stam served as project consultant. ARL staff members Martha Kyrillidou, senior program officer for statistics and measurement, and Mary Case, director of the Office of Scholarly Communication, provided support and guidance for the survey portion of this project. Mark Young, statistics program research assistant at ARL, provided additional statistical data. An advisory committee, consisting of leaders from the partner organizations and others representing important preservation constituencies, guided this effort. The study included both a survey of the targeted institutions and 20 follow up site visits.Rust …
The analysis of nonlinear systems in the frequency domain using Nonlinear Output Frequency Response Functions
Abstract The Nonlinear Output Frequency Response Functions (NOFRFs) are a concept which provides a new extension of the well-known concept of the Frequency Response Function (FRF) of linear systems to the nonlinear case. The present study introduces a NOFRFs based approach for the analysis of nonlinear systems in the frequency domain. It is well known that a nonlinear system can, under rather general conditions, be represented by a polynomial type Nonlinear Auto Regressive with eXogenous input (NARX) model. From the NARX model of a nonlinear system under study, the NOFRFs based approach for the frequency analysis of nonlinear systems involves solving a set of linear difference equations known as the Associated Linear Equations (ALEs) to determine the system nonlinear output responses and then the NOFRFs of the system up to an arbitrary order of nonlinearity of interests. The results enable a representation of the frequency domain characteristics of nonlinear systems by means of a series of Bode diagram like plots that can be used for nonlinear system frequency analyses for various purposes including, for example, condition monitoring, fault diagnosis, and nonlinear modal analysis.