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CHICAGO - Take a few moments during Preservation Week, April 24-30, to attend two free webinars. Sponsored by the HFGroup, these webinars will enlighten you on two very important and timely topics: accidents and digital memories. The webinars are produced as part of Preservation Week by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services () and its partners the Library of Congress and IMLS. Interested in being part of Preservation Week? Visit the website at .

Tuesday, April 26, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m, CDT.

Accidents Happen: Protecting & Saving Family Treasures"

Accidents and disasters happen. When it does, are you prepared? Are your family treasures stored safely in your home or elsewhere? How do you save your photos when they have been submerged in flood water? What do you do if your books smell mildewy? What if your basement floods or worse? Attend this session to learn answers to these questions and more. Nancy Kraft, head of preservation at the University of Iowa, will provide tips and tools for checking out possible hazards around the house, dealing with mold and salvaging keepsakes, documenting damage for insurance purposes and keeping your family safe.

Learn the steps to take in preparing for and responding to a disaster. Get a basic understanding of dealing with mold. Learn simple techniques for salvaging keepsakes. Become aware of available disaster assistance

So if you are interested in learning about disaster preparation and response strategies that you can use at home, library or business, you won't want to miss this webinar.

Nancy E Kraft, head of preservation at the University of Iowa Libraries, is responsible for directing the preservation and conservation of the library collections at the University of Iowa. In 2009 she received the Midwest Archives Conference Presidents' Award for her extraordinary work following the historic levels of flooding that struck Iowa in the summer of 2008. She has assisted in many disaster recoveries, large and small, including the Iowa Floods of 1993 and 2008, the University of Iowa Old Capitol fire, the water-soaked State Historical Society of Iowa building and a mold outbreak in the Law Library's rare book room. Her passion is assisting the individual to preserve his/her keepsakes.

Thursday, April 28, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m., CDT.

Preserving Your Personal Digital Memories

Digital photos, electronic documents and other new media are fragile and require special care to keep them useable. Preserving digital information is a new concept with which most people have little experience. As new technologies appear for creating and saving our personal digital information, older ones become obsolete, making it difficult to access older content. Your guide, Bill LeFurgy, will teach you about the nature of the problem and offer some simple, practical tips and tools to help you keep your digital memories safe.

Bill LeFurgy, digital initiatives manager, has worked for the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress since June 2002. He leads the NDIIPP Communications Team, which interacts with a broad range of people interested in preserving access to digital information. In former lives, LeFurgy dealt with electronic records at the National Archives and Records Administration and served as Baltimore City Archivist and Records Management Officer. While he has memories of punch cards, monochrome monitors and 30-pound portable computers, he is also an enthusiastic creator and consumer of social media.

These Preservation Week webinars are free and open to anyone with an interest in the topics.

To register, visit the GoToWebinar site:

For all other questions or comments related to the webinars, contact Julie Reese, ALCTSEvents Manager at 1 (800) 545-2433, ext. 5034 or jreese@ala.org.

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