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AV Archives Night and Tweetup
18 July 2014
Join us Wednesday, August 13th at the Black Cat for the officially unofficial SAA14 1st Annual AV Archives Night and concurrent Tweetup. AV Archives Night party is a screening/listening party sponsored and arranged by AVPreserve to highlight audiovisual collections in the DC area and the great work archivists do. We already have submissions from the University of Maryland, Archives of American Art, Veterans’ Oral History Project, and the National Archives, with more coming in. The programing will showcase early broadcast history, important oral history work, performing arts, unique historical footage of the region, and folklife music from across the globe. Highlights to pique your interest include footage of activities of US Army soldiers during the Baltimore Riot of 1968, color footage of Nurses of the 51st field hospital during WWII, and DJ patter from WMUC’s Yesternow from the 1970s. The event is free and open to anyone (do not need to be attending SAA) and will take place in the Backstage Concert Room at the Black Cat DC. Find location details at http://www.blackcatdc.com/shows/archives.html
Comparing NDSA Levels Rankings Across Cloud Storage Vendors
18 July 2014
Seth Anderson has been compiling a series of cloud storage vendor profiles over the past year with an analytical focus on the suitability of cloud storage as a preservation environment. As the amount of digitized and born digital material archives must manage grows, the pressure from administrators to find affordable solutions for file-based storage also increases. Seth’s profiles and continued work in assessing such services help give a framework for considering cloud storage while taking into account (and being able to communicate) the risks and benefits of various solutions.
The Cost Of Inaction: A New Model And Application
17 July 2014
Physical audiovisual media collections are at risk for extreme levels of loss if action is not taken to preserve them in the next 10-15 years. Most archives are well aware of this critical issue, but are unable to move forward with preservation projects because it is difficult to quantify the intellectual impact and cost impact of action or inaction in order to advocate and secure budgets.
Our new Cost of Inaction Calculator provides graphics and metrics that compare resource expenditures, digitization and storage costs, and the rate of loss of physical media to help provide an approach to planning and advocating for preservation. This paper presents a sample case study showing how the COI model and Calculator can be used to support preservation efforts. This is a PDF version of an article that originally appeared in the International Association of Sound & Audiovisual Archives Journal No. 43, July 2014.
The Things We Do — Catalyst Item Level Inventory
15 July 2014
I’m experimenting with a new series here, tentatively title The Things We Do. In part inspired by Kevin Driedger (got it right this time!) 5 Days of Preservation. In part inspired by the fact that my family hasn’t a clue of what I actually do with my life (besides rock).
New Cloud Storage Vendor Profile – DuraCloud
10 July 2014
AVPreserve has released the fifth in the series of Cloud Storage Vendor Profiles compiled by Consultant Seth Anderson. These profiles assess cloud storage services in relation to archival and preservation concerns, looking at issues of data management, reporting, redundancy, accessibility, security, end of service protocols, and adherence to the NDSA’s Levels of Preservation for digital collections.
New Cloud Vendor Profile
24 June 2014
AVPreserve has released the fourth in the series of Cloud Storage Vendor Profiles compiled by Consultant Seth Anderson. These profiles assess cloud storage services in relation to archival and preservation concerns, looking at issues of data management, reporting, redundancy, accessibility, security, end of service protocols, and adherence to the NDSA’s Levels of Preservation for digital collections.
AVPreserve at International Seminar of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
23 June 2014
AVPreserve President Chris Lacinak has been invited to speak at the Sixth International Seminar of Sound and Audiovisual Archives in Mexico City, Mexico. Themed “The Democratization of Sound and Audiovisual Heritage in the Digital Age”, this year’s seminar is organized by the National Sound Recordings Library of Mexico as part of the Cooperation Program of the Latin American Summits: “Sound and Audiovisual IBERMEMORIA”, proposed by Mexico and the Latin American General Secretariat (SEGIB). The seminar promotes the conservation, use, and re-use of sound and audiovisual heritage in Latin America under the Cooperation Program’s efforts to establish a model for the integral conservation of sound, audiovisual, and filmic documents that make up the heritage of the countries of the region.
AVPreserve Sponsoring AV Archives Night Party
12 June 2014
AV Archives Night || Ensuring Access @ SAA 2014
Episode 10 of More Podcast, Less Process Now Available
9 June 2014
Episode #10 of “More Podcast, Less Process”, the archives podcast co-produced by METRO and AVPreserve, is now available for streaming and download. This episode is “Archival Manoeuvres: Managing Digitization Projects” with guests Miwa Yokoyama (Digital Project Manager, Carnegie Hall) and Mitch Brodsky (Digital Archives Manager, New York Philharmonic). Carnegie Hall and the Philharmonic are both in the midst of large scale digitization projects involving their historic institutional collections, primed towards increasing researcher access to the materials and making the content more broadly usable by the entire organization. Miwa and Mitch talk about the differences and similarities between their respective projects (in-house v. outsourcing, scope of collections, access points), and provide a helpful breakdown of the challenges, successes, and pro-tips they have encountered. Josh and Jefferson had a lively discussion with our guests, and tried to keep the westside/eastside trash-talking to a minimum.
AVPreserve at AIC 2014
29 May 2014
AVPreserve Senior Consultant Kara Van Malssen will be presenting at the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) 42nd Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA this week. The theme of this year’s meeting is Conscientious Conservation – Sustainable Choices in Collection Care. Kara will be on a panel at the Electronic Media Group Luncheon on Friday with Jim Coddington (Chief Conservator, Museum of Modern Art), Ben Fino-Radin (Digital Repository Manager, Museum of Modern Art), and Dan Gillean (AtoM Product Manager, Artefactual Systems) to discuss MoMA’s effort to design and build the first digital repository for museum collections (DRMC). This has been a long-gestating and much-needed tool to help ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of MoMA’s time-based and file-based artworks, and its development has involved a lot of critical, innovative thinking and collaboration across many of the departments at the Museum. Kara and AVPreserve have provided consultative support in various aspects of development for much of the length of the project. We’ve been excited and honored to be a part of it and to participate in the AIC panel. We’ve always enjoyed AIC for the great community and the fascinating, educational projects and topics that are discussed. Say hi to Kara if you’re attending.
