Digitization for Preservation and Access: Restoring the Usefulness of the Nitrate Negative Collections at the American Geographical Society Library

Film-based photographic collections of nitrate negatives pose major challenges to preservation and access because of unstable media and the lack of item-level indexing. Digitization offers an opportunity to capture the content of deteriorating negatives, to extend access to them, and to restore their usefulness as information resources. Digitization as a preservation strategy has been the subject of ongoing debate. This article contributes to the discussion by exploring access to and the preservation of film-based photographic collections and by presenting the digiti- zation project at the American Geographical Society Library as a case study. The project, Saving and Sharing the AGS Library’s Historic Nitrate Negative Images, was undertaken from 2010 to 2012 to preserve and provide access to over 69,000 nitrate negatives from its historic collections.

Agriculture and sustainable development: The role of small scale agriculture in obtaining food security

The international community has expressed a renewed interest in small scale agriculture and the role it plays in long-term food security in the face of climate change and population growth. This interest has led to a new development paradigm in which small scale producers are being brought into the global market. Undoubtedly, small scale agriculture should be pursued as a sustainable form of development which can contribute to poverty alleviation, environmental stewardship, and the preservation of genetic diversity. These unique contributions are inherently threatened by a system captured in the idea of the neoliberal food regime. The ability of small scale agriculture to uphold the goals of food security are dependent on recognition and preservation of these contributions.

Candidate Conservation Agreements to Minimize Military Conflicts with Wildlife Laws: The Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus)

The proposed Endangered Species Act listing of the gopher tortoise has the potential to impact the military mission at installations in the southeastern United States. Candidate Conservation Agreements with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could be a tool to promote conservation and potentially preclude listing. This project identified military activities that could be affected and determined that military natural resources managers are unsure if such an agreement would prevent impacts to the military mission or impose the same restrictions as federal listing. This project found that if a gopher tortoise Candidate Conservation Agreement can be developed such that it benefits the species as well as the military, it should be used as a model for other species.