Building the Budget: Meeting Major Funding Demands for Preservation and Security and Successfully Promoting Your Program
Securing Preservation Funds: National and Institutional Requirements
Deanna Marcum
Council on Library and Information Resources

Nearly everyone regards preservation as a good thing. Who isn't in favor of preserving the intellectual and cultural record? But being a good thing has not been sufficient to guarantee adequate funding for preservation in American research libraries.

Preservation funding is imperiled for a number of reasons. First, private funding tends to follow trends, and, currently, there is keen interest in digitization as a means of making materials accessible to new and broader audiences. Consequently, access projects are far more likely to succeed in the review process than preservation projects.

Federal agencies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution have adopted strategies that emphasize access for the K-12 audience as well as for the general public. A new emphasis on accountability and service to all constituents gives preference to funding requests that enhance success. The strategies to improve access have increased these agencies' visibility and have led to better relationships with Congress. We hope that this will eventually lead to greater funding that can be applied to such important activities as preservation.

Finally, preservation funding also suffers because we have not advanced a compelling national plan for preserving important resources. In my paper, I shall outline a few possible scenarios for national initiatives.

Ultimately, individual institutions must view themselves as contributors to the national collection of scholarly resources and accept responsibility for preserving their share of materials that have lasting scholarly value.