Tomorrow, 1st May 2011 is MayDay - Help "Save Our Archives" Posted: 30 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT Keeping in theme with Preservation Week, talked about in our previous post, know that tomorrow, May 1st is MayDay! Whether you manage your own personal archive, a society archive, institutional archive or all of the above, MayDay is a call to action to make sure that collections are protected. After all, that is a fundamental responsibility of all archivists! The Society of American Archivists gives ideas and resources on what you might do as an individual or as the staff of a repository! You can help “save our archives” by participating in MayDay 2011! Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Disaster Preparedness by Curt B. Witcher *************************************** All the horrible weather that has plagued such a large part of the country reminds us again of how important disaster preparedness is for our genealogical materials and family heirlooms. Typically we don’t think about what to do with these items until it’s too late. When you’re in a tornado shelter or being evacuated because a critical dam or levy just broke--that is not the time to begin your disaster planning. Many have heard the acronym LOCKSS, which stands for Lots Of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe. And that is the best way to prepare for a disaster when it comes to your genealogical documents. With the ease and low cost of scanning and digital technology, and the high quality of the scanned images, think very seriously about creating a digital archive of your family photograph albums and other important family documents. And then don’t store that digital archive right next to your computer, or even in the same house! Send it to a relative in another town, or create a space for your family history on WeRelate.org and post your digital documents there. You can also consider what many thousands of people are doing--using cloud storage such as Mozy, Dropbox, and Carbonite. Most offer significant storage space at a reasonable cost. Prepare to preserve your family treasures before disaster strikes.