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.

Archiving From Home

Over the weekend, I was still helping my boyfriend unpack his new condo, and we came across his three very large boxes of VHS tapes that have been packed since his move in Dec 2008. The plan was for one of his more tech-savvy friends to transfer them. Well, that hasn't happened yet, and now I've been recruited to find a cheap way of transferring these to a DVD-quality file (not archival-quality) on a hard drive.

I'm looking at some analog to digital converters, and software programs for him. He has a Mac, so it should be pretty easy to start, though it will take quite a while to complete. Though this machine/software doesn't say if it's Mac-compatible, it looks decent. The reviews are better than other converters, and I was wondering if anyone had used it, personally. I was also thinking of just going the easy route and buying a more simple piece of equipment.

This Reminds Me...

Two short articles.

From NPR's Picture Show: "Find Me A Dodo...". (This reminds me of a few requests I've gotten...)

From NPR's On The Media: "Librarians Gone Wild." (I can relate!)

Moving Image Metadata

I wish I would have known about this symposium on metadata from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not that I could have made it... But I'm excited to watch the online presentations!

Outreach Done Well!

You know you're doing something right when a professor approaches you, said he heard about a film in your collections from one of his colleagues, and would like to get some people to donate to the cause to have it preserved and digitized! Even though this wasn't a severely deteriorating film I am currently trying to preserve from the Department of Athletics Collection, the film does need some work--slight warping, it broke while playing, very slight vinegar syndrome. The content, however, is completely unique! A former female anthropology professor, Dr. Regina Herzfeld, did field studies and interviews with Native American groups, and there is a lot of interaction between her and the Native American women--a rare occurrence. It's a relatively high-demand film (for the Archives), played about once a year, and having a digital copy would definitely help us out, but because it is relatively playable, it's not high on our priority list.

I received the initial description-based estimate from ColorLab today, and passed it to my interested parties. I hoped to get this project going soon, but once the professor saw the price tag, well, he's still interested, just slightly less so. He's compiling a longer list of people to seek donations from...

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.

A Little Archiving From My Hometown...

I just saw a story on the AMIA listserv on preserving archival footage from WQED, a local broadcasting company in Pittsburgh, PA. The preservation action was performed by Preservation Technologies (a cool place to tour if you get the chance!) in Cranberry, PA, about an hour north of Pittsburgh. If you're familiar with WQED, you know they produced such amazing shows as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (which are being preserved), along with many other PBS productions.

This grant-funded project is a rare opportunity for a public station because these types of stations cannot afford a project on this scale using their typical operating budget.

I can't wait to see the result of this mass digitization project!

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!

Library of Congress Saves Films!

On the Media--Film Buff

The Library of Congress has established a National Film Registry to preserve the legacy of some of the best films of all time, but among the submissions were orphan films--historical films, corporate films, and ameteur art/music films that are little known, often not associated with an author, causing them to be forgotten about and rarely preserved. With the Library of Congress's help, these films are being preserved and digitized, saving a legacy otherwise not known.

NPR: On the Media did a story on these orphan films.

Fantastic Films (2)

On Friday I got the estimate from our film vendor, and because of the severe deterioration of the films, after closer inspection, the five cost almost twice as much as the Archives wanted to spend! So, we're going with my original idea of preserving three films and pursuing donors to save the other films (now more donors than we initially thought).

I chose three from the five, and it hurt to know that the other two might not be able to be saved because we can't afford it right now. I feel like I'm abandoning my cat, or something. I care about these vinegar-smelling pieces of acetate.

*Sob*

I digress...

The films that will be saved are as follows:
"Old Film" ca. 1939 (I'm hoping this is a film of the record-setting football team, the year they went to the Sun Bowl)
"Track and Field. Zuppa Doyle runs a mile for CUA" (Record-setting event)
"CUA Football" ca. late 1920s or 1930s (possibly from the year the team went to the Orange Bowl, but probably game footage from when the team was prominent in the USA).

I made the tearful selection, got back to our rep, and got as much as I could do taken care of. Hopefully this project will get off the ground in January, and be finished in the first few months of the new year! My next step is to approach the Offices of University Development and Alumni Relations to see how we can market these DVDs to interested alumni and their families, so we can get more money to digitize more films.

Fantastic Films

After wrapping up discussions on the reception last night, I erased quite a few things from my to-do dry erase board, and added my new projects. In the next week and two days I will be starting to focus solely on the CUA School of Music audio recordings, and the CUA Department of Athletics films. I made great progress today, which has left me in a super happy mood!

I talked with my supervisor about starting the film preservation/digitization project. Starting is a lose term because I located two collections of severely degraded films a little over a year ago. I had students perform surveys (library students who jumped to have the experience to learn about and survey film, not that were grudingly stuck with vinegar syndrome films) to complete an inventory but to also survey preservation concerns. I met with Russ Suniewick, President (and representative) of ColorLab, a film laboratory and telecine service, who appraised the films, took the surveys, and provided an estimate soon after.

And then we sat on those estimates because we didn't have the money to do either large project. I proposed doing a few films as a pilot project to my supervisors, and then we can use this pilot project to get money from donors who can help us to complete this project. However, I could not pursue this project because of the reception.

Today was a day for new goals.

Today I contacted our sales rep, agreed on a price and type of project we are looking to do, re-reviewed the inventory, selected the five films (based on level of deterioration and potential for popularity and donor appeal), and FedEx-ed them off to ColorLab!

Tomorrow, audio!

What is that?

One of the most common questions I hear from someone referring to my media is "What is that?"

I recieved a plea of help phone all from a fellow special librarian on campus about a grad student needing to watch a film for a project. They didn't have the equipment, nor did they know if the film was playable. After a few initial questions like the date of the film and if it smelled (acetate or polyester), and the appoximate size (16 or 8), I decided it was worth examining in person, and playing it. So Friday afternoon, I loaded my favorite 16mm sound film projector on a hand truck, got a take-up reel in another hand, and put some cotton gloves in my coat pocket and wheeled the projector across campus (very slowy). And I do mean all the way across campus. A few students gave me odd looks, and an older professor stopped me and said, "It's not every day you see a 35mm projector." to which I replied, "Thank goodness this is only a 16mm projector!" He laughed. I was almost to my destination and very worn out by that point.

The film was in fairly good condition for an early 1970s polyester film, except for the red-shift, which is only confusing for the student. I'm going over today to set the equipment up for the student, and I will get one of the Archive's students to help me bring the projector back to the Archives (it was too heavy to wheel across campus)!