Article
For God’s Sake, Stop Digitizing Paper
25 August 2014
We are all aware of the expectation from the general public that EverythingEver is digitized and available online already. This is of course frustrating because, 1) when presented with the reality there is often a negative reaction from the public, primarily that archives are lazy and behind the times, but also, 2) the perception is often trotted out as a reason why preservation efforts are frivolous or don’t need to be funded, especially if the citation is in reference to commercial assets that are widely torrented. “There are a million copies online,” the argument goes, “Why should we care about archives or pay attention to their uptight rules?”, little aware that the bulk of cultural material in existence does not consist of Hollywood films, studio albums, and published works (or student websites from 15 years ago).
SAA AV Archives Night Wrap Up
19 August 2014
Thanks to everyone who made the First 1st Annual AV Archives Night party a success, both the archives who contributed content (program is available here ) and all of you who came out in support of the great work these archives do to preserve the audiovisual record. It was a spectacular collection of audio and video from DC area archives (you haven’t lived if you haven’t seen 1930s color Kodachrome). And, collectively, we totally blew the minds of the Black Cat crew, which is saying something.
AVPreserve Crew at SAA 2014
4 August 2014
AVPreserve consultants Josh Ranger, Bert Lyons, and Rebecca Chandler will be attending and participating in next week’s Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
The Things We Do #2 – Interview with Consultant Kathryn Gronsbell
31 July 2014
The second in our “The Things We Do” series highlighting our great team at AVPreserve. In this edition, an interview with taxonomy pro and New Jersey native, Kathryn Gronsbell.
Making African Academic Resources Accessible
30 July 2014
Audiovisual preservation is a global concern. Yes, there is very much a local or personal flavor to it, with the widespread existence of regional archives, historical societies, institutional collections, and oral histories or homes movies well beyond large research repositories. However, when we look at the scale of the work to be done and the resources needed, we have to be equally concerned with efforts in other parts of the world. The fabric and depth of our own personal or cultural history is shallow and monotone without the reflection and input of other people, cultures, and nations.
Cloud Storage for Preservation Profile #6 Now Available
22 July 2014
Consultant Seth Anderson’s latest Cloud Storage for Preservation Vendor Profile is now available on our Papers & Presentations page. This profile takes a look at Preservica, a service that supports deep storage, production, and streaming or other web-based access of assets. In this way it stands out from many of the other vendors profiled in that its services extend beyond just storage to access. DuraCloud, our previous profile, also provides access capabilities, so it’s not really surprising that both services have a dedicated focus on supporting libraries and archives where preservation and access walk hand-in-hand. For some further comparison among the different profiles see Senior Consultant Joshua Ranger’s blog Comparing NDSA Levels Rankings Across Cloud Storage Vendors. And check out https://www.avpreserve.com/avpsresources/papers-and-presentations/#cloud for all of the profiles, as well as many more of our white papers.
AVPreserve at Digital Directions, DigPres14
21 July 2014
The AVPreserve team will be busy next week at bi-coastal digital preservation events. Consultant Rebecca Chandler is an invited speaker at the Northeast Document Conservation Center’s Digital Directions conference in Portland, Oregon. Digital Directions: Fundamentals of Creating and Managing Digital Collections is an annual training conference that presents 2 ½ days of instruction on basics and best practices for creating good digital objects, collections, and initiatives. Rebecca will be instructing attendees in two workshops — Digitizing Audio and Digitizing Video, which will provide a basic overview of identification, selection, and statement of work development when working with a digitization vendor.
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.
