Presentation Wrap-up

Last Thursday I gave a presentation for the WRLC (Washington Research Library Consortium) Spring Forum on audio preservation (digitization and digital preservation). I talked about the program I have worked on at the CUA Archives for the School of Music audio recordings, presenting a practical approach for digitization on a tight budget, doing what you can with what you have. I got a lot of great feedback, encouragement, and tips for the next steps. It's great to know I'm on the right track with this project!

The best part about this presentation is that it gave me a chance to reflect back on almost one year of progress on the project (I started working on it after the ARSC conference last year). Updates are available in the presentation.

The presentation slides and a video of all three presentations and the discussion panel will be available through the WRLC website, link to be posted soon.

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.

Issues In The Reel World

I spent the majority of today working on my audio reel set-up and transferred the first reel using the new set-up, the Mac, and Logic Express. It was also the first reel I had worked on that was recorded at 3 3/4. I thought everything was good to go (3 3/4 button depressed and everything) and when I started the digital transfer, I heard a chipmunk instead of a soprano! After messing with settings on the computer (because I thought I took care of everything on the hardware end), I finally listened to the recording through the reel player and discovered it wasn't doing what it was supposed to be doing. A colleague then found a great site for me, obsolete media, which has a manual for my reel player! After searching discovering that I had to remove a post sheath, and then not-so-gently coaxing a sheath off of a post that had not been removed in over decade, I got everything running again, the soprano started singing, and the digitization was running.

End of story? Not quite.

We got Logic Express for the great metadata it creates and allows. All of the administrative metadata is there, but I'm having trouble finding the menu to input descriptive metadata. There's always tomorrow!

I've Been Thinking...

I've been thinking that I should get together a poster session or something on what I've been doing on the audio digitization process at CUA for the SAA poster presentations. I mean, what I'm doing isn't new--there are plenty of music libraries and archives that have had audio preservation and digitization programs running for a while--but what I'm doing is unique in that it's basically designing and running the program. I've made necessary connections at the university and in the field who are my technical consultants, I'm using students to do processing, and my bosses have to approve of the program I'm implementing, but it's basically me.

That's pretty freaking awesome, and a notable innovation. Fully utilizing modern technologies (in creative ways) has allowed me to create this program from nearly nothing. Other than the expense of the computer (which needed updating anyway), the expense of iLogic Express (software), and the expense of one book, I've accomplished what I've done so far using free resources and my connections. The audio equipment I'm using was all located at the university, and also free. Soon, I will be asking about $500 for a mixer and analog to digital converter so I can have a professional audio setup so multiple formats can be digitized in-house. I attended a CCAHA workshop on a/v digitization in October and was given the estimate of $50,000 for an audio digitization program, with several people working towards establishing it. By the end of setting this up, I hope to have had the Archives spend less than $3,000. I bring in more money a year for photo digitization requests.

If I can get a poster presentation together, archivists will know how easy establishing an audio program is. SAA needs support all record types.

Audio Progress

I made some progress (with the HUGE help of the Music Library Tech) today. He was able to re-wire the audio visual area for me, and hook up the reel to reel player again (it has not been hooked up since I received my new Mac). I can't wait to mess around with iLogic Express and the player next week.

The next step is getting an analog to digital converter and mixing board so I can have multiple media plugged in at once (the tech also recommended some of those for me)!

I was also able to finish the first draft of the audio preservation guidelines I'm writing and get some feedback on some edits.

I also heard back from the Library website manager and I have a test site for my audio visual webpage! We made some edits today so it should hopefully be online next week!

And in addition to all of this, I had some photo requests!

I'm just so glad that I made so much progress today because it's a short week--no work tomorrow on account of DC Snowpocolypse (part deux)!

Friday Productivity!

I started my second practicum student today, who was really excited about the photo collection (which made me super excited). I had her reading background information on Fred J. Maroon, and had her look over his 1990 CUA photo book, as well as browse the collection to visualize series. We discussed this afterwards, and unlike I and the rest of the staff thought, most of the vintage CUA prints are not from his time as a student, but apparently he did for-hire work for the Hartke Players on tour in the 1950s and 1960s, including some of their USO tours! I also covered photographic material handling. I'm going to start her on preventative preservation next Friday, and EAD the following week. She was really enjoying the gorgeous prints!

I guess all the excitement and positive vibes today shocked my brain into action because I was actually able to make sense of my technical information today, and wrote two sections of the Archives Procedural Manual for Audio Preservation today! I also took notes to include in the following three sections. I'm so glad I was able to make progress this week because I hit a wall last week. After I write this procedure, I need to present it to the supervisors, to see of the technical recommendations for the storage are achievable by CUA, and for their approval for implementation. I'm definitely pushing the barrier for the Archives.
(And to think, on Wednesday I was just happy that I was able to get the rogue reels transferred to the Archives...)

Vintage Ads

So a friend sent me this great site for vintage ads... You know what I always say... There's nothing better than the Aeolian-Vocalion!

More Multi-tasking

I spent a large portion of the day training my practicum student. I started her on the acetate discs from the School of Music. We went over Dublin Core, Library of Congress subject headings, degredation signs of acetate discs, and re-housing. I sort of felt bad diving in so soon, especially because she had so many questions, and I hope I answered all of them. The first time I had to do that sort of thing, practically, I had already done it in class, and I've been around acetates from my grandparents' collection since I was a child. She asked a lot of good questions, and I hope I did a decent job explaining things today.

I also reviewed folder-level processing for photograph collections with my part-time assistant. I've been having her read Roe, and I have finally found a decent example of organization within the large collection I'm having her work on (after I spent so much time in the unprocessed sections last week). My next concern for this project is this: limited to an EAD finding aid, how do I accurately organize and describe digital folders of digital photos that have been taken by the day or week, without moving the photos around. I know the most effective way to do this would not use EAD, but Dspace, or another database system, but that is not an option--what has been established as a standard at the Archives is what will be used.

I have ordered supplies for several projects over the last two days, and will have to continue that tomorrow.

The rest of my day was spent trying to validate the A/V website pages. I'm having problems with and

tags that somehow appeared on some pages when I edited the pages in a WYSIWYG view. I don't know coding proficiently enough to write an entire page in code, but now I'm paying for my shortcuts. Or rather, I will continue to pay tomorrow...

Audio Project Process

Both of my practicum students start next week--one on Monday, one on Friday. But other than teaching them about archives, I think my week will be back to normal--minimal photo requests and focusing on the School of Music audio project.

The "database" is ready. I have arranged for the transferral of the last eight boxes of reels to the Archives for Thursday, and I also have the a music technician who works at the Music Library coming over to help me set up the reel player, and examine my equipment on Thursday. On Monday or Tuesday I am going to start writing the in-house procedures manual for the standards I have chosen and the steps I have decided to take in the preservation/digitization process. I have yet to order re-housing supplies, but the discs have been re-housed, and some formats (like the cassettes) shouldn't need re-housed, so I will have my students start with those.

The team of people who worked on the Sound Directions project and wrote the manual did a great job. This is going to be a great test of how one person can emulate and adapt that process for a small institution (but not a small project).

I am documenting everything. Someone should be able to learn from my insanity.

Continuing Education-Lyrasis (Update)

I received an email today, stating that due to low enrollment, my online class was cancelled. Why are more archivists not interested in taking these opportunities?

Metadata Madness

The post title says it all. I'm trying to create a listing of Dublin Core metadata for the School of Music Audio and I'm getting bogged down by the technical standards mentioned in my reference books. I'm not an audio engineer. What the heck is a "BEXT Chunk," and should I really attempt to edit it with my limited knowledge?

Even the non-technical is making my head spin. Basically, I'm trying to compile a listing of descriptive metadata (and probably some structural) so my student can start creating an inventory. I consulted the CUA music librarian last semester and ran into problems when he thought the test listing I compiled was too technical, and a musican would have difficulty searching for a piece. We also discussed who should be listed as "contributors." The performing ensemble, names of individuals of smaller ensembles, conductors, soloists, composers? When cataloging music records in a library, this is so much simplier--everyone has their own field. Should a composer's full name be listed (as with the name authority field), or should we list only what is written on the recording? Should I expect a non-music student worker to know which Bach wrote a piece? Getting the authorized heading means nothing if it's the wrong one! The only thing I decided upon at that time was that I will end up creating "user teminology" for the end-user display instead of the Dublin Core.

I know I'm over analyzing, but it seems to me (more and more) that this project seems like an MARC project, not a Dublin Core one, but because this is an Archives project...
I am using the Indiana University's Archives of Traditional Music catalog records as my reference, but it isn't stopping my head from spinning fast enough!

Modifying the OAIS

Today I read IASA's Guidelines on the Production...IASA-TC04, Chapter 7: Small Scale Approaches to Digital Storage Systems. This chapter simplified the OAIS (Open Archival Information System), and highlighted the most important aspects and provided cost-efficient recommendations for smaller institutions or small digital collection projects.

As I prepare a workflow for the School of Music audio project, I will have to examine the OAIS, and try to simplify steps. An OAIS consists of:
1) Ingest
2) Access
3) Administration
4) Data Management
5) Preservation Planning
6) Archival Storage

I will not be able to simplify the digitization (ingest), but if I can implement Dspace earlier on (if CUA has continued access and support to the Digital Object Catalog), I might be able to simply access.

Final comment--I was comforted to see that one sub-section in the chapter was titled "Single (or Double) Operator Storage System." I'm not the only a/v digitization team of one!

Project Planning-Audio Digitization

I have been reading Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation and IASA's Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects in preparation of planning not only an audio digitization project, but planning audio digitization standards for the CUA Archives.

I became quite overwhelmed from all the technical terms and processes today, so I decided to take a quick step ahead and do some project planning, based on logical steps taken while developing a normal digitization plan (names have been eliminated for privacy). Am I missing anything, at least in the preliminary stages? Anything I won't discover while doing the rest of my reading?

Project Plan for the School of Music Audio Digitization Program

People Involved:
Robin C. Pike, Audio Visual Archivist
Audio Visual Archivist’s student assistant
Possible practicum students or other student workers
Head Archivist and Associate Archivist, supervisors
Music Librarians
Other technical support staff?

1) PRELIMINARY:

a. Inventory A/V Equipment
i. Student Assistant creates inventory and shelflist
ii. I update Shelflist database

b. Set up equipment to MAC
i. Consult music librarians
ii. Reel player is priority
iii. Might need new analog to digital convertor
iv. Set up other audio equipment and possibly VHS/Beta, later

c. Organize Audio Materials
i. Work with Music Library and CPIT to accession rest of collection
ii. Research standards for cataloging audio
iii. Create cataloging schema
iv. Order re-housing supplies
v. Process Collection
- Student Assistant and student workers create inventory
-- Student workers note preservation concerns
- Re-house collection
- Student Assistant and student workers research and write history of the Music Department; consult with Music Librarians
- Student Assistant and other student workers create rest of finding aid parts

d. Research Digitization and Digital Preservation
i. ARSC sources, namely Sound Directions and IASA Guidelines book
ii. Set in-house standards and methods
iii. Order and set up preservation formats

2) ACTIONS

a. Preservation
i. Preservation notes from processing used
ii. Preserve materials as preparation for digitization

b. Digitization
i. Clean and oil machine well, and frequently
ii. Clean materials prior to preservation
iii. Digitize using Audacity or iLogic Express
iv. Save to formats, etc.

3) ONLINE
a. Upload to Web server
i. via WRLC? Omeka? Other?

4) ONGOING PRESERVATION AND DIGITAL PRESERVATION
a. Work with people in charge of Web server
b. Monitor preservation masters, and original

The Audio Cassette as Art?

Remember the cassette? Mix tapes and mangled favourites in the car stereo? It's back. As an art object.
 (From BBC News)

A Little Bit of Everything...

Yesterday I spent the day finalizing all of the information for the film preservation vendor and scrapbook digitization vendor, and making a few last edits to the a/v website. Other than audio preservation research, it seems like I'm just waiting for my student assistant to return so I can start her on new projects (which are accumulating). I've been working on requests, but they're either in the pre- or post-digitization stage, so I've been make a supply wishlist for panoramic photos and audio reels.

So... today I'm catching up on odds and ends, and reading Sound Directions. It feels like a Friday. Maybe I'm subconsciously hoping for a snow day tomorrow.

Continuing Education-Lyrasis

Librarians and Archivists should continue learning after graduation through classes, workshops, and conferences. Lyrasis is an organization that specializes in educational classes in new trends or technologies, management, or what I like to call "things you probably should learn a little more about but didn't learn in school." Some classes are at actual buildings, but many are what they call "Live (Online)," live classes taught via a special Internet chatroom, where you can interact with the professor and other attendees. I have taken one live online class and have enjoyed the format very much. Chatroom capabilities have come a long way! (Lyrasis also offers Live (On Demand) classes, but I have not attended one, yet.)

Lyrasis is offering a class called "The Preservation of Recorded Sound Media, Digital and Analog" on February 5 from 10am-12pm. It will discuss formats, preservation concerns, and digitization options. I am very interested in the digitization options, and look forward to attending!

Back to Work!

It's Monday and I'm back at work after a two-week vacation! I was compiling projects for the upcoming semester. What's on deck?

*Digitizing two scrapbooks from a alumni's father (the father was also an alumni), and creating the corresponding photo digital collections;
*School of Music audio recording project, consisting of organizing, re-housing, processing, researching digitization and digital preservation standards, digitizing, and cataloging;
*Department of Athletics film preservation and digitization project, consisting of working with a vendor to preserve and digitize the films, and then marketing the films to the university community properly to acquire funds to digitize more films;
*Finish EAD finding aids for two large university photo collections;
*Finish the A/V website coding (one page left!);
*Re-house a large portion of the audio and moving image media in the archives (when moving materials, I discovered the poor housing was leading to deterioration of some audio and films);
*Not go crazy attempting to finish all of this by May-ish.
Goals vs. what will actually be completed... Let's see how much I can do!

Reading Resources

In my attempt to get the audio preservation and digitization programs off the ground in the Archives, I have been doing an excessive amount of research and reading lately, mostly from THE reading list provided by the ARSC Technical Committee.

I had to take a sick day today, so I'm trying to get through (at least a part of) resource #2: Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects. Kevin Bradley, Editor. Aarhus, Denmark: International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), 2004.

I have some catching up to do!

The best of both loves...

Here's a story I found on Slate about the vaudeville singer Eva Tanguay, who has faded into obscurity, but was really one of the premiere US "rock stars" in the early 1900s! I also loved the slide show of old photographs. The digitization was done very well. I could almost smell the deteriorating paper backing! Anyway, this story combines a lot of my "loves"... Old photographs, vaudeville and historic music theater, and old recordings!

Copyright Issue Update

This is an update from yesterday's copyright issue.

After talking with a lawyer in the General Cousel's Office, we decided that digitizing and providing a digital copy via ILL for research purposes only was a permissable use of the dissertation recording under the contract doctoral students sign for their dissertation (according to a university policy), and fair use laws. The lawyer also said that the policy we consulted for the use of doctoral dissertations was a bit ambiguous, had not been updated in a few years, and she would work with the Dean of Graduate Studies to update this policy to account for the advances in technology and the University's use of technology to distribute dissertations.

Our Archives will have to work on a new policy for this new procedure.