THE
Full coverage of the Document Management industry, in all its forms.
I A P R IL 2002
kheet ISSUE No. 4
ISSN 1476-3842
F M A Eunw p® -
time
for a relaunch?
i AIIM 's s u c c e s s fu l o ffs h o o t ta rg e ts In te rn a tio n a l e x p a n sio n ? The Film -based Im a g in g A sso cia tio n (FblA), the sub association within AIIM that promotes interest in and use of film-based im aging in document management systems, had a successful m eeting during the recent AIIM conference and set goals for 2002. One of these included a revival of the presently-dormant European FblA. To resuscitate a European presence, John Symon, AIIM European office, met during CeBIT last month with Paul Negus, The M icrofilm Shop, Ian McMinn, W icks and Wilson and Tim Nixon, Editor of The Green Sheet. They were also joined by John Mancini who gave his, and AIIM's, blessing for the plan to proceed. One step a lre ad y be in g unde rtake n is fo r FblA to exhibit at the third DLM Forum to be held in Barcelona, S p a in , M ay 6-8. The th re e -d a y e ve n t w ill be a conference and exhibition on access and preservation of electronic records. It is aimed at archivists, records and content managers from the EU and candidate member states. The purpose of the FblA exhibiting is to remind these e xe cu tives o f the lo g ica l role o f film -b a se d imaging in digital information preservation systems. It is difficult to say very much more about the future plans of the FblA Europe as there is a meeting arranged during April and it would clearly be wrong for me to pre-empt any decisions that m ight be taken. I should have more to report in the May issue. Volunteers that may be interested in getting directly involved with the rebuilding of the European arm will be very welcome and should contact any of the above named individuals on the e-mails quoted at the end of this article.
H ealthy look to U .S. F b lA FblA last month reported to its members that it was in healthy financial shape. Income exceeded expenses in 2001 and FblA has a bank account surplus of more than $
100, 000.
Financial stability has more than the usual importance to FblA. Some members look to a possible independent future, depending on what lies in store for AIIM. As an independently sustainable group it could, if necessary, join forces with other organisations with similar goals if AIIM were to drop out of the picture as a viable force. One such m ight be the AIIM Service Bureau Forum, another profitable sub group within AIIM
L obbying film ’s role in digital preservation A continuing effort by FblA in the United States is w orking with the Government Reform Committee of the U.S. Flouse of Representatives. W hile the Census Bureau and N ational A rchives have agreed to put Census 2000 forms onto microfilm for long-term preser vation, as has been done with every other census since 1790, the two government agencies continue to drag their feet on tran slatin g the d igita l portion of the census to microfilm. Congressional leaders, who understand the need for a uniform governm ent policy on d ig ita l inform ation preservation and accessibility, believe the hybrid system done for Census 2000 forms could be a prototype for all U.S. go ve rn m e n t agen cies. Fb lA is a ssistin g these leaders and will participate in a Reform Committee hearing on the subject of digital preservation later in 2002 . Russ Burkel, Analogue Im aging, has been one of the most forceful FblA champions of the hybrid system, and th e a u th o r o f m any le tte rs th a t have a c tu a lly influenced the US Government decision makers. He has had the full support of the FblA committee headed by chairman Ken Kopald of ASI. Contacts: John Symon - jsymonAaiim.org, Paul Negus info@ microfilm.com, Ian McMinn ianm@ wwl.co.uk, Tim Nixon - info@ green-sheet.net and John Mancini jmancini@aiim.org. Details o f DLM - www.dlmforum.eu.org -