Archival Issues in Network Electronic Publications

published or submitted for publicatio

Letter to Ed Edmonds regarding SEAALL Archives, June 21, 1989

A letter from William Maher to Ed Edmonds providing information on AALL records retention and guidelines to use for the SEAALL Archives

Ecology of the Long-Tailed Jaeger at Lake Hazen, Ellesmere Island

Reports on the 1966 studies of breeding density, timing, chick growth and food habits of Stercorarius longicaudus near the northern margin of its extensive range (66 N on Hudson Bay to 83 N) where it is free of competition from the pomarine and parasitic jaegers. The great variation in breeding of the long-tailed jaeger is related to the lemming populations, which provide >90% of the jaeger's food; clutch size also appears to be adjusted to food supply. This small jaeger species adapts to the High Arctic with its efficient use of lemming highs which may not be very great and its use of insect prey, especially by the chicks. Fledging time is approx. three wk, one week less than the larger jaegers. Egg-laying dates vary widely between years and within populations. Juvenile birds, mainly snow buntings and shore birds make up most of the other vertebrate prey. A description of the Camp Hazen environment and a comparison of the long-tailed jaegers with north Alaska populations are included.Écologie du Labbe à longue queue du lac Hazen, île d'Ellesmere. On a étudié en 1966 la densité de reproduction, la distribution chronologique, la croissance des poussins et les habitudes de nutrition d'une importante population de labbes à longue queue. De 1961 à 1966, la densité de reproduction a fluctué de 0 à 2 couples par mille carré (269 hectares), avec des sommets en 1962 et 1966. De 12 à 13 pour cent des œufs pondus en 1966 ont atteint l'éclosion, mais dans les 4 années creuses, seul un nid sur 7 était productif. Tous les indices suggèrent que dans les bonnes années, la "réussite" reproductive était très grande. Les dates de ponte varient beaucoup d'une année à l'autre et selon les groupes. La proportion des aliments dans les boulettes régurgitées – 242 fraîches et 710 anciennes – était respectivement de 90.1 et 94.0 pour cent de restes de lemmings. Pour les autres proies vertébrées (surtout des oiseaux), elle était de 18.6 et de 8.0 pour cent. Le plectrophane des neiges était l'oiseau le plus fréquent (79.5 et 72.5 pour cent), suivi des oiseaux de mer (9.1 et 21.6 pour cent). Chez les passereaux, le pourcentage d'oiseaux juvéniles était de 83 et 79.4, et chez les oiseaux de mer, il était de 75 et 91. Les insectes étaient présents dans 30 pour cent des boulettes fraîches

Muskox Bone of Possible Wisconsin Age from Banks Island, Northwest Territories

During a summer 1963 study of the terrestrial vertebrate fauna, a Bernard River locality was searched for fossils. The only specimen found was the right half of a left metacarpal of Ovibos moschatus with a radiocarbon age of >34,000 yr, suggesting that muskoxen were on Banks Island at the height of the Wisconsin glaciation or earlier. Conflicting views concerning the existence of a Wisconsin refugium on this island are discussed; the evidence suggests that such did exist isolated from Beringia and from any of the northern islands.Ossement de bœuf musqué d'âge wisconsin (?) provenant de l'île de Banks, T. du N.-O., Canada. Un morceau de métacarpe d'Ovibos a été trouvé en 1963 sur l'île de Banks, T. du N.-O., Canada, près de 121º54'O. et 73º23'N. L'ossement n'était pas distinct de celui d'un Ovibos moschatus. L'auteur discute de l'existence possible d'un refuge wisconsinien sur l'île de Banks. En effet, il semble avoir existé là un refuge, isolé de la Béringia. En plus d'espèces botaniques, deux espèces de petits mammifères (lemmus sibiricus et Lepus arcticus) et, peut-être, le bœuf musqué auraient survécu dans le refuge de Banks

Recent Records of the California Grey Whale (Eschrichtius glaucus) Along the North Coast of Alaska

Considers the summer range (mapped) of this species based on shore observations 1953-1959, and information from Eskimos. The whales enter the Arctic Ocean in mid-June and move along the lead between pack and shore ice, reaching Wainwright and Barrow in late June or early July; a few get as far east as Barter Island, and some may follow the ice pack as it moves offshore. In early Aug. they start moving southwest, though some were still seen in mid-Sept. Local kills (few), feeding habits, etc. are also noted

If Only We Could Reach the Shoals: Barriers to Archives Digitization

"When I first joined the archival profession over thirty years ago, I noticed how my new colleagues seemed to be hallucinating. Witnessing the power of mainframe computers and imagining the possibilities of bibliographic networks, they had visions about how this technology might liberate us so we could actively connect our archives to users and potential users—students, scholars and the general public—without being bound by the physicality of the archives. While most thought in terms of automating finding aids and indices, a few even dared to imagine that new technologies might also allow us to store, retrieve and deliver the full text of archival documents. I have to admit that the notion that somehow computer terminals could be linked to a network to enable even small archives to ―broadcast‖ archival documents worldwide was a bit beyond my imagination. Where was the technology, the infrastructure and the mass market to implement such a system?

Effects of temperature and soil organic content on the growth and survival of E. coli in sandy soil

With the continuous growth of populations and expansions in developing countries, the availability of sufficient water resources is approaching a critical state, especially in arid and semi-arid lands. In Egypt, although the Nile has been sufficient for many centuries now, its dependability for all life applications for the coming decades is in question. By far, agricultural practices consume the greatest portion of fresh water from the Nile. As a result, there is a growing effort dedicated to investigating the use of treated wastewater for irrigation instead of using virgin fresh water as a best-sustainable practice. When it comes to the use of treated wastewater in agriculture, the contamination of highest concern is microbiological (bacteria such as E-coli, viruses, protozoa, and fungi). Not only does the direct application (i.e. without treatment) of wastewater before application pose great risks on the health of workers and the local community involved, but it also poses a high risk of contamination of the groundwater and the harvested crops. However, to what extent the wastewater should be treated before irrigation is the question that needs to be properly answered for the relevant site-specific conditions: while under-treatment renders the water unsafe, over-treatment can be costly and economically impractical. This study is a small part of a larger investigation that seeks to inform the development of guidelines for the sustainable use of treated wastewater in agriculture based on microbial contamination (using E-coli as an indicator) in a host environment representative of arid and semi-arid environments (sandy desert soil and desert outdoor conditions). The extent and rate of growth of microbes as well as their decay rates is greatly affected by the host environment, which in such a case is the soil media properties (such as the amount of organic content in the soil) and the temperature and exposure to sunlight. To accomplish this, bacteria survival experiments were conducted in static soil column tests set up in the laboratory before exposure to outdoor conditions. The bacterial growth was studied for three different initial buffer concentrations repeated in the summer and the winter for soil with three different organic fractions (0.035%, 0.3%, and 0.5% respectively). Samples were then taken at different time frames throughout each experiment, which in most cases lasted for a week. The study showed that in most cases, the total bacterial cells would reach their peak value within one day (24 hours). The extent of growth as well as the rate of growth and decay was considerably dependent upon the soil organic fraction and the temperature. At lower temperatures, the growth of the bacterial cells was observed to increase up to three orders of magnitude their initial value, and they were also observed to have more prolonged survival and slower inactivation rates. During the summer, on the other hand, the higher temperatures often promoted a more rapid die-off rate due to more intense solar radiation, decrease in moisture, and faster decomposition rate of soil nutrients. The concentration profile within a column was often observed to vary more during summer than winter experiments. A strong correlation was observed between bacterial growth and survival and the organic fraction of the soil. This was noticed in the change in the relative total cells of the bacteria in the soil column, where the highest peaks occurred at higher organic fractions. The increase in the organic content of the soil also tended to prolong the time of survival of the bacteria in soil even at high temperature. As anticipated, the extent of E. coli growth in the test soil was directly proportional to the concentration of cells in the solution added to the soil columns. The results of this study should aid in the development of sustainable practices for the cultivation of the deserts using treated wastewater in order to minimize risks to human health and the environment in addition to providing data to calculate those risks. The results should also aid in determining more realistic guidelines for acceptable levels of pathogens in treated wastewater to be used in desert reclamation projects in arid regions like the Middle East because they account for site-specific variables unique to these environments