To Exhibit or Not Exhibit?

Earlier this month I installed the latest Cracchiolo Law Library exhibit, “1864.” This exhibit was co-curated with my colleague, Kristen Keck, in response to the recent United States Supreme Court Decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In addition to highlighting the topic of abortion in Arizona and at Arizona Law, we also highlight the 1864 Howell Code.

On display in the law library’s reading room is a print copy of the Howell Code. Produced over 150 years ago in 1865, there are only 14 other known holding records according to Worldcat. Fourteen!

The Howell Code has been a topic of previous library exhibits including a 2019 exhibit titled, “Territorial Arizona and the Impact of Spanish Law on the Howell Code” on which I served as co-curator in collaboration with Michael Brescia, Curator of Ethnohistory at the Arizona State Museum. At that time, I made a decision to not put my law library’s copy of the Howell Code on exhibit for preservation purposes. Below is an image of the 2019 physical exhibit that includes text panels and colored images of our digitized Howell Code. You can access a digital copy of the Howell Code by visiting our digital collections website.

The law library’s copy of the Howell Code is a gift of E.E. Ellinwood, a “noted Arizona jurist.” Unfortunately, there is no associated documentation for the gift. The copy contains black and white reproductions of preliminary leaves or prelims, the pages that precede the actual text of a book. It is unknown if the original prelims were bound with the text block when they were gifted to the law library.

Our copy is fully leather-bound in a “smooth calf of rather disagreeable yellowish fawn color” known as law calf. It is also likely case bound, meaning that adhesive was used to bind the outer leather covers with the text block (the inner pages or individual leaves that have been sewn together). Definitions are pulled from the ABC for Book Collectors.

As you can see from the image above, the book is not in great shape. I would choose to describe our copy of the Howell Code as defective or gone in that the outer leather cover is no longer attached at the spine (the back or backstrap).

So why exhibit it now? As an archivist and the librarian responsible for my law library's special collections, it is my responsibility to treat and view the book as a physical object, an artifact. Choosing to exhibit this object now will not serve to preserve it for the future, and I do not doubt that this object is beyond repair. The text block is still in tact, and the original front and back boards are still in good shape even if they are no longer attached to the text block. It is possible that the book could be rebound. So why risk further damage?

My opinion: Sometimes an artifact and the content held within, like Title X, Sec. 45, are worth showcasing as defective or deteriorating. Sometimes, there needs to be an understanding that some objects, and more importantly, some of their content, may not be worth preserving.

This post was written by Jaime Valenzuela, Archivist and Scholarly Communications Lead at the Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library. He is a LIPA Member-at-Large.

LIPA Digital Project Registry: New and Improved

In 2015 LIPA’s digital preservation registry was first published on the web. Updates have arrived! A newly launched Digital Projects Registry is now live. The registry is a compilation of digital collections created by LIPA member institutions containing a wide variety of legal materials ranging from personal papers to civil codes.

The updated Registry now allows for easier navigation to the various collections in the Registry and includes an image related to the collections. The use of Google Forms has also allowed for a cleaner Project Input Form. Though not all fields are required, there is an opportunity to provide logistical and technological details that can better serve other libraries who may be seeking to start their own digital projects. Form questions ask for information such as the software and digitization equipment that are used in the project or whether your digitization project was outsourced. A PDF of prior submissions remains available as well.

If you or your institution are considering a digitization project, please consider applying for a LIPA Project Grant or a Conference Grant. All LIPA member institutions and all individuals employed by a LIPA member institution are eligible to apply. Applications must be submitted by June 1, 2022 for the project grant. For further information on these grant opportunities and to apply, please view the Grant Opportunities tab of the LIPA website.

For further information on the newly updated Digital Projects Registry, please contact Michelle Trumbo at lipa.trumbo@gmail.com.

Before you know it, you will receive the response below too!! Best of luck on your digital projects and please don't hesitate to let us know about them!!

Looking Forward to Preservation Week 2022 and LIA

Last year LIPA highlighted a number of preservation webinars to help celebrate and facilitate preservation within your communities. At the most recent LIPA Board meeting, we took time to discuss our intention to host a one-day virtual event during 2022 Preservation Week (April 24 - 30). Although ALA has yet to announce its 2022 theme, we considered a number of topics to discuss during our virtual event including trends in law libraries’ preservation goals and the awareness that libraries and the individuals working within them perform best when everyone works together, regardless of job function.

Collaboration is essential to one of the projects I am working on now: to collect the James E. Rogers College of Law born-digital media files and bring them under the Cracchiolo Law Library umbrella for both preservation and access. This project includes working with the Roger’s College Information Technology Department with support from both my immediate supervisor and my library director.

When born-digital media was first produced at the Rogers College, it was captured and managed by the college’s IT Department using the video platform Mediasite. Then a need for migration came and material was transferred to Panopto. Following the transfer, born-digital media has lived in Panopto since. Today, the majority of the born-digital media produced by the college is being captured via Zoom and uploaded to YouTube. With an access assist from IT, I have collected the digital material that is living on Panopto and now the YouTube material awaits.

To actively preserve the digital media discussed above and provide access to it, my law library is strongly considering joining the Legal Information Archive. At its core, this consortium of like minded law libraries is interested in preserving “print and electronic legal material.” However, given the continuously evolving application that is Preservica, consortium members are also actively preserving and providing access to “institutional content, born-digital material, and much more.”

There are currently two LIA subscription options for the year 2022. An institutional level subscription includes full involvement in LIA, including a designated collection for your library and participation in the project’s steering meetings, with a $1,500 annual fee. The collection level subscription includes up to 1 GB of content per collection (additional data or discrete collections can be purchased) which is ingested by LIPA and housed in LIPA’s general collection at a one-time price of $2,000. For additional information or to request a demo, contact Michelle Trumbo at lipa.trumbo@gmail.com.