Let's Talk Stock

Did you know that there are no longer any producers of magnetic audio tape (reel to reel)? Did you know that there is now only one producer of gold-standard CDs and DVDs (in the UK)? Did you know that VHS tape stock is probably the next to disappear?

Companies like Imation, 3M, and Sony have been shifting to producing electronic media and computer data tape, but no longer audio visual tape media. What does this mean for archivists?

1) Competing with collectors.
Do you know collectors? Have you actually talked to one? During grad school, collectors were presented as the obsessive patrons that lurk around special collections and try to steal your valuable (monetary or intrinsic) materials (as in The Island of Lost Maps). After meeting a lot of collectors at the ARSC conference last year, I realized that although they can be obsessive (but aren't we all?), they are usually ahead of archivists, predicting technological trends, especially when it comes to obsolescence. They collect prior to the format disappearing, rather than once the formats are no longer used prominently. If you want stock, start compiling it now because in another few years, it's not going to be accessible!

2) Re-thinking migration programs.
If your archive was fortunate enough to start an analog to analog carrier migration program, you'll no longer be able to buy new stock. Sure, you can buy old stock, stock that might be degraded as much as the tape you're trying to transfer. You can also buy re-purposed blank stock--tapes that have been used and are in good enough condition to be re-used. You could also redesign your migration program to go digital. Which brings us to...

3) Going digital!
Do you have a Content Management System (CMS)? Are you developing it? You're really going to need one unless you want a lot of files without metadata floating around on your server in a few years.

4) Developing digital standards.
Do the research. ARSC and AMIA have great technical guidelines and recommendations, but you need to find what will work practically for your archive.

5) Re-thinking grants.
Preservation grant standards have changed (or should be changing soon)! Analog to analog is dead. It's analog to digital or even digital to digital.