Biennial Report
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
FY2007-2008
Overview by the Texas State Librarian
Preserving the Past, Embracing the Future:
Progress Toward Strategic Goals in Fiscal Years 2007-2008
The mission of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
(TSLAC) is to safeguard significant resources, provide information
services that inspire and support research, education and reading,
and enhance the capacity for achievement of current and future generations.
To accomplish this, we:
• Preserve the record of government for public scrutiny,
• Secure and make accessible historically significant records
and other valuable resources,
• Meet the reading needs of Texans with disabilities,
• Build and sustain statewide partnerships to improve library
programs and services, and
• Enhance the capacity for achievement of individuals and
institutions with whom we work.
TSLAC’s business is information: collecting and organizing
it appropriately, making it available to the people of Texas now,
and preserving it for future access by generations to come. Through
our direct services and our support of services offered through
the state’s network of public, academic, school, and medical
libraries, we respond to the public’s need for information
and library materials that enrich the lives of Texans both personally
and professionally.
The 2007-2008 period covered by this report was one of rebuilding
after significant budget cuts imposed in preceding years. The agency
was challenged to meet growing needs with a budget that suffered
a mid-year 7% operating reduction in 2003, a 12.5% operating reduction
in 2004-2005, and a 50% capital budget reduction in 2004-2005. Overcoming
the impact of these reductions on the agency’s performance
measures and its ability to deliver services and support to its
constituents was a major focus and challenge in 2007-2008.
As the agency stood on the brink of its 2009 centennial, we began
a multi-year $15.5 million renovation of our flagship building,
the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library, starting with
the move of the bulk of library and archival collections to off
site storage in fall 2007, and then continuing with construction
startup in May 2008. The renovation, scheduled for completion in
2010, will bring the building up to current codes; improve public
service areas for patrons and staff workspaces; incorporate energy
efficient components; include a Conservation Lab so the agency can
establish a robust conservation program; and provide very limited
expansion of storage space for the state’s permanently valuable
archives. The agency’s support group, Friends of Libraries
& Archives of Texas, began a capital campaign that netted $1.7
million in 2007-2008.
Over the reporting period, our statewide resource sharing network,
TexShare, continued to grow, with increases in database usage, distribution
of TexShare reciprocal borrowing cards, interlibrary lending, and
training. In addition, our partnership with Region 20 Education
Service Center in San Antonio was solidified with the establishment
and expansion of a program of database access for all public school
districts paid for by legislative appropriation.
Disaster preparedness and response activities occupied much staff
time as we worked to shape the agency’s continuity of operations
plan. In the wake of major natural disasters that had tremendous
impact on Texas libraries, the agency offered consulting and limited
grant assistance to libraries, state agencies, and local governments
affected, as well as dealing with damage to its own Sam Houston
Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty and re-evaluating
the agency’s disaster plan.
TSLAC was the first of 27 state agencies to be moved into the
new consolidated State Data Center. The move was not without difficulties,
and information technology staff began working with other state
and vendor IT personnel to transition our IT services and strive
to attain a steady state of operations.
In a continuing effort to preserve the state’s permanently
valuable archives while providing the broadest access possible,
staff made great strides in digitizing historically significant
original documents and making them available on the agency’s
Web site through online exhibits and searchable databases. In addition,
we were able to secure the return of state archival documents that
had been separated from state custody, some for as long as 165 years!
I am proud of the efforts of a superbly competent, dedicated,
and customer service oriented staff whose work gives the Texas State
Library and Archives Commission a well-deserved reputation for excellent
service and who made significant progress toward the agency’s
four strategic planning goals.
Sincerely,
Peggy D. Rudd
Director and Librarian
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
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Goal One
To improve the availability and delivery of library and information
services for all Texans.
Our mission revolves around Texans being able to access and use
the information they seek, and we believe libraries are a crucial
factor in their ability to do so. The services libraries provide
to families, students, teachers, college faculty, professionals,
business owners—in essence, everyone—enrich lives and
support the state’s educational infrastructure and economic
prosperity.
In FY2007-2008, the agency employed the following strategies to
improve the availability and delivery of library and information
services for all Texans: Share library resources among libraries
statewide through Library of Texas, interlibrary loan, TexShare,
and other projects.
We provided services and grants to aid in the development of local
libraries, including Loan Star Libraries grants, continuing education
and consulting services, the Texas Reading Club, funding for regional
cooperative programs, and other grants. We provided direct library
service by mail to Texas citizens with disabilities from a centralized
collection of large-print, Braille, and recorded books through our
Talking Book Program.
BIENNIUM HIGHLIGHTS
TexShare
TexShare is a consortium of 694 Texas libraries that worked to
reduce costs and expand services by sharing resources among all
members. TexShare services include interlibrary loan, a courier
service that delivers library materials between libraries, statewide
electronic database subscriptions, and the TexShare card, which
allows users to borrow books from participating libraries statewide.
The TexShare database program provides access to electronic information
to the people of Texas bringing quality reliable online information
resources to colleges, universities, medical facilities, and local
communities. In addition to state and federal funding, TexShare
member libraries contributed $1.58 million in fees to supplement
the TexShare database budget. In FY2007, Texans conducted $47.38
million searches, and in FY2008 they conducted $38.78 million searches.
The Library of Texas information discovery tool at www.libraryoftexas.org/
grew steadily FY2007–2008. This service allows library users
to discover and retrieve desired information from multiple library
catalogs, databases, and other knowledge collections using a single
search screen. The Library of Texas searches through the catalogs
of 153 Texas libraries, including 95 public and 58 academic libraries,
and through 46 TexShare online databases.
K-12 Database Program
The K-12 Database Program provides school communities with state-funded,
quality online instructional resources. In 2007 , the Texas State
Legislature authorized the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
to use monies from the Texas Education Agency’s technology
fund to acquire “online research and information resources
for libraries in public schools, and for administrative expenses.”
Students, teachers, administrators, and parents of all K-12 public
schools and public charter schools have access to a collection of
full-text resources. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission
also provides four online encyclopedias in English and two in Spanish
that contain over 124,000 articles as well as teacher resources,
a world atlas, dictionary, and a thesaurus. All materials are aligned
to state curriculum standards and benchmarks.
In FY2008 our partnership with Region 20 Education Service Center
produced a K-12 Database train-the-trainer program and online training
modules and videos. As a result, 1,009 school districts signed up
for the database service, providing educational content to 7,404
campuses and 4,47 million students. This generated 20.93 million
searches using the K-12 Databases.
A new method of collecting usage statistics enabled schools across
the state to accurately track their database usage, benchmark against
similar institutions, and set usage goals to maximize the benefit
derived from state-funded electronic resources.
Federal Depository Library Program
Through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and the Texas
State Publications Depository Program, we ensure easy access to
government information throughout Texas. We are one of two full
federal depositories in the state, providing access to all publications
distributed through the FDLP. We also provide guidance to the 35
federal, selective depository collections in south and east Texas.
State agency and university publications were distributed to a network
of 48 depositories in Texas, as well as the Library of Congress,
so that communities could have access to state government information
locally.
The Texas State Publications Program processed approximately 300
linear feet of materials by identifying and removing duplicate items
from the collection. Staff relocated approximately 500 linear feet
by processing backlogged materials and transferring them to the
reference department. We distributed 80,490 documents in FY2007
and 67,075 documents in FY2008 to print depository libraries across
the state.
Loan Star Libraries
Loan Star Libraries is a formula-based grant program that provides
funding for Texas public libraries.
Since its inception in FY2002 through FY2008, Loan Star Libraries
grants have infused local communities with more than $22 million
to enhance local library services.
Between FY2002 and FY2008, of the 540 Texas public libraries, 81
percent served any Texas resident just as they would their own residents,
and 74 percent of all Texas public libraries were members of the
TexShare Card program. The Loan Star Libraries program distributed
$5.65 million each year to Texas public libraries.
Texas Library Systems
The 10 regionally-based Texas Library Systems serve public libraries
with continuing education and consulting services.
Tailoring programs to meet the needs of the libraries in each region,
the Texas Library Systems help members plan and develop their services
and collections to meet the needs of their communities and implement
targeted programs.
As a result of TSLAC’s Sunset process in 2007, systems received
authorization to seek grants and other sources of funding. Their
core services were defined as continuing education and consulting,
and the Sunset Commission recommended that beyond the core services,
systems should apply for competitive grants aimed at increasing
innovation and targeting state and federal goals. Reflecting this
change, the Texas Library Systems’ base operation grant was
$7.5 million in 2007 and $5.22 million in 2008.
Library Grant Programs
Technical Assistance Negotiated Grants provide funding to the 10
Texas Library Systems to support technical assistance for public
access computing for member libraries, and Texas Reads Grants fund
literacy and other reading programs in public libraries.
In FY2007, TSLAC awarded $690,000 to the 10 Texas Library Systems
through the Technical Assistance Negotiated Grant (TANG) program
and $680,000 in FY2008. TANG funds provide both hands-on support
and individualized consulting on a regional basis to support the
technology needs of library staff and the people they serve.
In FY2007 and FY2008, TSLAC awarded a total of $14,849 in Texas
Reads grants, supporting six projects:
• Irving Public Library, $3,000, hosted a “Storytelling
Around the World” program for children aged 2-5 to encourage
life-long reading while also educating them about diverse populations.
• Sterling Municipal Library (Baytown), $2,949, provided
a book discussion program for adult literacy students.
• Mesquite Public Library, $2,000, for the Summer Teen Café
program to expand library services to teens during the summer months
by offering targeted programming of interest to teens. The program
was promoted at area schools to encourage teens to read for both
fun and extended learning opportunities.
• Allen Public Library, $3,000, provided a community-wide
reading program. Books were selected according to each population
groups’ interests. The program selected at least one adult
and one children’s book on a related theme so that the community
could connect through a shared reading experience.
• Cedar Park Public Library, $1,500, for the ‘Texas
Two Step’ or Texas Writers for Texas Readers was a multi-dimensional
program designed to both encourage parents and teens to read cross-generational
books and share their perceptions, and promoted local Texas authors
to serve as an inspiration to Texas teen readers.
• West Public Library, $2,400, developed ‘When Teenagers
Read’, a program for local teens who were trained by an experienced
storyteller to present programs for area children attending story
time or summer reading club programs at the library.
Texas Reads grants are funded through the sale of the Texas Reads
specialty license plate (www.tsl.state.tx.us/agency/txreads.html)
and some federal Library Services and Technology Act money.
Talking Book Program
The Talking Book Program provides books in alternate formats for
Texans who cannot read standard print due to disabilities.
In FY2007 and FY2008, the Talking Book Program served over 18,000
people providing playback machines and recorded books, and information
to those who need disability reference assistance regarding any
disability-related issue. Volunteers at our recording studios recorded
157 Texas-related books and magazines, including seven books in
Spanish. Magazines recorded include Texas Monthly, Texas Parks &
Wildlife, and Texas Highways.
Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative (THDI)
The Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative (THDI) is a cooperative
project to identify, describe, digitize, preserve, and make broadly
accessible special collections of history and culture held by libraries,
archives, museums, historical societies, and other institutions
in Texas.
THDI was involved in the Institute of Museum and Library Services
(IMLS) Connecting to Collections Initiative. In FY2008, the Texas
State Library and Archives Commission, in collaboration with the
Texas Historical Commission, the Texas Association of Museums, the
Texas Library Association, Amigos Library Services, and the Kilgarlin
Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record at the University
of Texas at Austin’s School of Information, received a $40,000
Connecting to Collections Statewide Planning Grant from IMLS to
establish processes, develop resources, and build the strong foundation
of public and private support needed to assess the collections care
needs of institutions across the state.
In FY2006, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission was
awarded an IMLS National Leadership Grant to develop a unified search
interface for special collections. This interface went live in FY2007
as Texas Heritage Online (www.texasheritageonline.org).
The grant was extended into FY2008. At the conclusion of the grant-funded
portion of the project, over 1.36 million items from 105 collections
were available through a single search using Texas Heritage Online,
with 113 lesson plans that can be browsed through the site, and
9,218 visitors had visited the site. The ongoing development of
Texas Heritage Online and support for THDI was assumed by TSLAC
in FY2008.
In 2008, the TexTreasures Program awarded grants to five TexShare
member libraries totaling $95,000:
• “Houston Oral History Project” ($17,474) –
The Houston Public Library partnered with Mayor Bill White to preserve
and make the video-recordings of significant Houstonians available
on the web.
• “Early Texas Newspapers: 1829-1861” ($24,637)
- The University of North Texas Libraries and the Center for American
History at the University of Texas at Austin partnered to microfilm,
digitize, and provide free public access to the earliest Texas newspapers
held by the Center for American History.
• “The Witliff Collections” ($20,000) - The project
created an online exhibit accessing the primary source materials
of researcher Dick J. Reavis held by the Southwestern Writers Collection
at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University about the
siege of the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel outside of Waco in
1993.
• “Austin History Center Glass Plate Negatives”
($12,889) - The Austin History Center, a division of the Austin
Public Library, digitized the complete Hubert Jones collection of
471 glass plate negatives containing subjects local to Austin and
Texas.
• “Tejano Voices Project” ($20,000) – The
University of Texas at Arlington Library digitized and described
60 of the 174 oral history interviews with notable Tejanos and Tejanas
from across Texas conducted in 1992-2003 by Dr. Jose Angel Gutierrez,
associate professor of political science at UT Arlington.
TRAIL, the Statewide Search tool that automatically captures, indexes,
and preserves state agency Web publications, moved to a new platform
called the Archive-It Internet archiving service. Each regularly
scheduled harvest “sweeps” the Internet domains associated
with Texas state agencies and affiliated governmental entities,
except state institutions of higher education. In FY2007, 641,756
pages were harvested for a total of 118.72 Gigabytes. In FY2008,
3,172,371 pages were harvested for a total of 436.17 Gigabytes.
ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Hurricane Disaster Assistance — THDI assisted
Texas organizations in tracking institutions affected by Hurricane
Ike and attended Humanities Texas meetings held with FEMA and the
Governor’s Office about the needs of cultural heritage institutions.
THDI created a map of libraries, archives, museums, and government
agencies in hurricane-affected areas and promoted the availability
of grants from the Society of American Archivists, Texas Library
Association, Humanities Texas, and TSLAC to help institutions rebuild.
Texas Responds Grants — TSLAC used remaining
FFY2007 federal funds (with special permission from the Institute
of Museum and Library Services) and awarded a total of $222,100
to five Texas school and public libraries struggling to recover
from damage after Hurricane Ike. The public library in Galveston,
and the school districts of Beaumont, Bridge City, Clear Creek,
and La Marque each received $44,420 to purchase materials, computers,
and related supplies to assist those libraries in restoring services
to schools and the public.
Gates Foundation Grants — In FY2007 and
FY2008, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission worked on
three major initiatives (PAC HUG, Rural Library Sustainability and
ROSA) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help sustain
public access computing in Texas. The Public Access Computer Hardware
Upgrade Grant (PAC HUG) provided $2,385,000 to public libraries
to replace or upgrade more than 1,900 computers in 544 library buildings
from fall 2006 through December 2008. The Rural Library Sustainability
statewide training program assisted rural libraries in planning
and sustaining public access computing and reached 242 librarians
in 2007. In 2008 Reaching Our Spanish Speaking Audience (ROSA) reached
289 librarians and focused on developing librarians’ knowledge
and skills in reaching out to Spanish speakers.
Report on the Needs of Public School Libraries
— The 80th Legislature directed the Texas State Library and
Archives Commission and the Texas Education Agency to conduct a
study of the needs of public school libraries, determine which agency
is best suited to address identified needs, and submit a report
to the leadership of the state by December 31, 2008. The report
is online at www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/schoolneeds/.
Plinkit (Public Library Internet Kit) —
Smaller public libraries often lack the resources to develop and
maintain a robust Web site. The agency is a partner with five other
state libraries and three networks to offer this content management
based Web site template. During the reporting period, 71 Texas public
libraries used Plinkit.
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Goal Two
To improve the availability and delivery of information services
to state government and to persons seeking current and historical
information from state government.
Gaining access to government, whether federal, state, or local,
can be a daunting task for citizens. We work to make government
information easy to access locally. We believe government at every
level should be accountable and transparent to its people so everyone
can participate effectively in civic affairs.
To improve the availability and delivery of information services
to state government and to those seeking information from state
government, we employ the following strategy: Provide legislators,
staff, and the general public with ready access to needed government
information from publications, documents, records, and other library
resources.
BIENNIUM HIGHLIGHTS
Texas State Archives & Information Services
Comprising four major collections, the Archives and Information
Services Division maintains and provides access to more than 150
million pages of archival documents and almost two million volumes
of printed library materials. We are committed to increasing universal
access to these materials through the Internet, as well as managing
and preserving the original documents and helping customers use
the materials.
During the FY2007-2008 biennium, staff of the Texas State Archives
mounted two new online history exhibits. The new exhibits covered
the topics of Texas state parks and life in Civil War Texas. To
date the Texas State Archives offers 13 online history exhibits,
found at www.tsl.state.tx.us/exhibits.
One of TSLAC’s priorities has been to increase access to
our collections via the Internet. During FY2007-2008, we completed
the digitization of the very heavily consulted collection of Military
Service Records making the entire collection of some 70,000 pages
– that covers Texas military organizations from the Republic
of Texas era to the 1930s – available on our Web site.
A new tool was developed to enable better searching of the images
for this collection as well as the Republic of Texas Claims records.
Also 77 documents from the Republic of Texas era, recovered as part
of the agency’s efforts to reclaim documents that were improperly
separated from the State Archives, were digitized and added to the
Republic of Texas claims searchable database.
Work continued on the long-term project to digitize and preserve
the collection of Civilian Conservation Corps plans and drawings
of state parks produced during the 1930s. More than 560 drawings
for six state parks were scanned. The Texas State Library and Archives
Commission and the Texas General Land Office collaborated on this
project. Upon completion, all 3,600 sheets of the digital images
will be available to the public on the agency Web site.
To assist users in locating records, we prepared descriptive finding
aids and made them available online through our participation in
the Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO) project. By the end of
FY2008, we contributed 527 archival finding aids to help researchers
make use of our archival collections.
In FY2007-2008, archivists spent 2,200 hours preparing the gubernatorial
records of former Governor George W. Bush for research, arranging
them into logical series, describing the records, and mounting finding
aids. In assisting the public in using these records, the staff
devoted 340 hours to respond to 25 Public Information Act requests
for this group of records, and another 877 hours to respond to other
information requests.
Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center
The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, part of the
state library located in Liberty, serves as the regional depository
for local government records of archival value for a 10-county region
in Southeast Texas.
During FY2007-2008, the Sam Center obtained a new digital microfilm
scanner, had installed a new elevator in the Jean and Price Daniel
House, and constructed a secure maintenance building, on the grounds.
The Atascosito Historical Society, the Friends of the Center, provided
funding for the elevator and the new building.
In February 2007, TSLAC began the restoration of its 1860 Miriam
Partlow House, a $200,000 project funded by the Jean and Price Daniel
Foundation through the Atascosito Historical Society. This project
is slated to be completed in 2009.
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Goal Three
To provide for the cost effective management of all state and
local government records.
Effective records management within government agencies is
the foundation for an accessible government, accountable to its
people.
BIENNIUM HIGHLIGHTS
State and Local Records Management Programs
The staff of the State and Local Records Management Division help
state and local government agencies implement and maintain sound
records management programs. Services include training and consulting
regarding records management issues, assistance in creating records
retention schedules, and records storage and imaging.
Staff worked with approximately 9,850 state and local governments
in Texas to implement and maintain records management programs.
During FY2007-2008, state agencies realized a cost avoidance of
$141 million by storing their records in the State Records Center.
This storage center has a 395,000 cubic foot capacity. At the end
of FY2008, 88 agencies stored 360,667 cubic feet of records, the
equivalent of 45,083 five-drawer file cabinets.
In FY2007-2008, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
converted 19.5 million document pages to microfilm for customers
and delivered more than 27,000 training and consulting hours to
state and local government employees. We partnered with other state
and federal agencies to tackle records management issues, such as
disaster recovery and the management of government records in a
digital environment.
We partnered with the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management
and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to help
Texas governments to prepare for disasters. We participated in a
national program funded by FEMA through the Council of State Archivists
(CoSA) to provide Webinars on identifying and protecting records
from disasters. This program is called Intergovernmental Preparedness
for Essential Records (IPER).
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission partnered with
both the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) and the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to host two
annual conferences on electronic records.
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Goal Four
To implement a program to ensure the meaningful and substantive
inclusion of Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) in all
areas of procurement.
The State of Texas has placed special emphasis on the value
of small business owners to the economic health of the state; and
as an organization of state government, we strive to procure services
from businesses representing the diversity of Texas residents.
BIENNIUM HIGHLIGHTS
The Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Program is an integral
part of the procurement process at the Texas State Library and Archives
Commission. The agency’s staff ensures HUB procurements remain
a priority at all levels of the organization. Our good faith efforts
during FY2007-2008 included:
• Participated in multiple HUB forums and events.
• Participated in multiple HUB discussion group meetings with
several state agencies.
• Assisted new agency vendors in the HUB certification process.
• Conducted meetings and training sessions for agency staff
involved in the procurement process at the program level.
Though the Texas State Library and Archives Commission greatly
exceeded the statewide HUB goal in commodities contracts, we were
unable to attain statewide goals in professional and other services
contracts. Many of the contracts we awarded were proprietary in
nature or exempted from competitive bidding. These included statewide
licenses for databases, library-specific services offered only through
a single provider, and contracts for interlibrary loans made on
behalf of our agency by public and academic libraries. Some contracts
were awarded without the agency receiving any bids from certified
HUB vendors. We remain committed to doing business with HUB vendors
and will seek every opportunity to increase our utilization in the
future.
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Renovation Challenges
Zavala Building Renovation Challenges
The 79th Texas Legislature authorized $15.5 million in bond financing
to renovate the Lorenzo De Zavala State Archives and Library Building,
which has not undergone a single major renovation since it opened
its doors in 1961.
In FY2007, TSLAC began preparation for the renovation by moving
more than 20,000 linear feet of materials to off site storage and
almost 5,000 linear feet of the Genealogy Collection from the first
floor to the third floor. Several TSLAC divisions and departments
prepared to move to temporary space on the upper floors of the building
and to the Texas Real Estate Commission’s Camino La Costa
Building.
In August 2007 the Archives and Information Services Division completed
the plan for moving the archival and library collections during
the building renovation. By early December 2007 approximately 98
percent of the agency’s library holdings—more than a
million titles—had been placed on 628 bookcarts and 25 pallets
and were moved from the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library
Building, along with 68 microform cabinets and their contents.
By the third week of January 2008 all of the archival materials
slated for removal from the building had been relocated to the Commission’s
leased storage warehouse: 17,611 cubic feet on pallets; 4,410 cubic
feet on carts or special moving gondolas; and the very large case
housing the Texas Capitol Building Drawings. In addition, some 7,330
cubic feet of archival materials earmarked to remain in the building
during renovation were moved internally. The Archives and Genealogy
research rooms previously located on the first floor were moved
to the third floor (Room 300).
In May of 2008, construction renovation began on to the ground
floor of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building,
and is scheduled to be completed in early 2010. During that time,
TSLAC continued to offer its services and programs to patrons. Updated
renovation news and notes can be found at www.tsl.state.tx.us/renovation/index.html.
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