| Abstract: | ABSTRACT Much of what defines the national character of Americans, as well as the nation's social structure, landscape, environment, and economy, is rooted in our agricultural past This remarkable story of the American experience is captured in a broad band of documentary resources that include the memoirs and transactions of early agricultural societies and almanacs, extension service publications, archives, photographs, oral histories and periodicals for farm families and the agricultural “trade.” However, older materials, especially those printed on poor-quality paper, are often severely deteriorated, brittle and fragile. To lose these materials would be to lose an invaluable record of American values and the nation's scientific and business enterprise. The united States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) proposes a national program to preserve in the original or in an archivally sound format–and make readily accessible to scholars, researchers, students, and scientists–the most important pre-1950 published literature and the primary unpublished resources that together document the history of the agricultural sciences in the United States. Participants will be land-grant institutions, the National Agricultural Library, and other libraries, societies, and archives with important historical collections. A USAIN-appointed national steering committee will govern and develop funding for the program and recruit a Coordinator to work with participating institutions to develop suitable preservation projects. The first priority is the preservation of scholarly monographs and journals identified as the core historical literature of the agricultural sciences. Projects will employ a hybrid mix of technologies (e.g., preservation microfilming, conservation of originals, and digital scanning), which reflect requirements for both archival soundness and improved access. The program will also assure that records for preserved items are included in national databases and that storage conditions for archival copies meet national standards. The plan envisions formation of a “National Agriculture Literature Archive” at the National Agricultural Library. |
