Adopt-a-Book

What is being lost:
In libraries all over the world books printed since the mid-nineteenth century have become brittle and are now crumbling into tiny flakes of paper. This is a result of acidification, the breakdown of natural resins by the acids used to make woodpulp. Jewish books are unique among the different literatures of the world, because they are sought after and used today as much as when they were first published. Many of these nineteenth-century works, often printed at great personal sacrifice, have already disintegrated beyond repair. Others are being lost through fire, theft and accident.

What can be done:
The Judaica Archival Project has established a rescue program at the Jewish National and University Library of the Hebrew University and other libraries in Jerusalem. We are gathering lists and information about endangered books in consultation with scholars and creating archival master copies. These books are then reproduced on photostats, microfilm/fiche and CD-ROM disks for reference libraries and scholars.

What you can do:
You are being asked to adopt a book! Examples of rare and endangered Jewish books are found in the JAP catalogue. An application form follows. You may select a specific work or group of books you wish to save. You may add a dedication which will appear on the microfilm. If you are adopting a book to celebrate a happy occasion or in memoriam of friend or family please note the recipient's address so we can notify him of the gift or memorial. Include $30 for each journal issue or $60 for each volume you wish to adopt. Add $40 for each new dedication. Adopters can also dedicate a "shelf" (20 volumes) or "bookcase" (100 volumes) in the library in a single payment or on a monthly basis.

What we will do:
We will preserve the book you have selected on microfilm bearing the dedication you have indicated. The original microfilm will be stored for future generations and the copy will be made available to Libraries and scholars. An additional copy will be sent to you or the recipient indicated.

Adopt-a-Book Application Form

Subscriber's Name
Mailing Address
State or Province
Country
Telephone & Fax #
E-mail Address

I wish to help preserve:

Journals
Volumes
Shelves
Bookcases

Specific titles to be preserved:
Suggestion - You are invited to search our catalog for works from family ancestors or that were printed in your place of origin. Then copy them to your clipboard (edit/mark/^C) and paste them (^V) into this form.

Title:
Title:
Title:
Title:

Please select titles on our behalf from:
Suggestion - Choose a regional, topical or time framework.

Text of Microfiche Dedication (40 letters):
Please send honoree a copy of microfiche

Honoree Name:

Honoree Mailing Address:

Payment Information:

Visa
MasterCard
American Express
Diner's Club
EuroCard
IsraCard
Personal Check *
Credit card number: Valid Until:

Or please send your adopt-a-book contribution by registered airmail to:
The Judaica Archival Project,Nahal Uria 11/10, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel

Virtual Library Sponsors

You are invited to get involved in this exciting project to preserve and make available our printed heritage. On one hand a tremendous amount of printed material has been cataloged and indexed in Jewish Studies but on the other hand the libraries are woefully behind in making the printed word readily available. Although information about a book or article can be found in minutes, it may take anywhere from hours to weeks to retrieve the actual source document. Frequently the source cannot be found at all !

In the second stage of the Project we plan to enhance automation and searching. In order to handle more requests we plan to advance from an off-line system where each request is individually ordered, copied, scanned and billed to a "real-time" Virtual Library. In the real-time Virtual Library the researcher himself will browse the contents of book on the Internet, find the page he needs, download the image and pay his page fee all without assistance. The role of the librarian will be to help focus information requests.

To achieve our overall goal of on-line accessability to every important Jewish book from anywhere in the world we need new scanners, mass storage devices, servers, and high-speed access to Intra/Internets plus the dedicated trained staff to run them. Please email us at jmr@aquanet.co.il for more information and a detailed budget.

Introduction

Projects