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CORVALLIS - The Northwest Archivists and the Northwest Oral History Association will hold a joint annual conference April 25-27 at Oregon State University that will explore "The Environment of the Northwest: An Archival View."

More than 100 archivists and oral historians from universities, agencies and associations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska are expected to attend.

The conference will examine a number of different topics, including the importance of oral history, archaeological records, Native American records, sustainable record keeping, and the influence of technology on archiving.

Presentations also will focus on controversial issues, and how records of those events are maintained. These include cleaning up of "Superfund" research sites, collections highlighting wildlife refuges, and documents detailing sources of energy crises.

"Another issue that is a real area of contention today is copyright law as it pertains to the World Wide Web in general, and digital records in particular," said Larry Landis, university archivist for OSU.

Pre-conference workshops on April 25 include a full-day session on copyright, led by William Maher from the University of Illinois (co-sponsored by the Society of American Archivists), and a full-day session on the basics of oral history, led by Charles T. Morrissey, former president of the Oral History Association. An introductory two-part workshop on archival theory and techniques also will be offered.

Most of the conference events will be held at OSU's LaSells Stewart Center, though others are scheduled for various campus and community locations. The conference is open to the public for a fee; registration is $60 for members and $75 for non-members. An additional fee will be charged for the pre-conference workshops.

For more information on the schedule and registration, visit the conference web site.