Preservation

Jenny Dunbar, Archivist, College of DuPage​

Photographs were not always well regarded as historical documents. In the early stages of the development of archives, many archivists did not consider photographs as primary source material and relegated any visual material to a more subordinate position. Now, the value of photographs is appreciated, and they play a significant role in cultural heritage collections. It is imperative that these materials be preserved.

Like most audiovisual material, the preservation of still images is a complex one. Heliographs, daguerreotypes, cyanotypes, tintypes, albumen, silver gelatin prints, calotype paper negatives, glass plate negatives, nitrate, diacetate and polyester negatives, lantern slides, autochromes, film slides, digital photographs – the list goes on and on. The preservation of this multitude of formats is a daunting task that presents significant concerns, necessitating a variety of storage conditions and techniques. Additionally, photographic collections are usually heavily used, a factor that increases their susceptibility to damage.

Jamie Nelson, DePaul University

Readers of this installment of the Preservation Committee’s yearlong look at audiovisual/media preservation will likely recognize that the information presented in this piece isn’t new, but that the application specific to AV materials may leave some room for revision and improvement at our own institutions.  Lucky for all of us, we have two motivating factors going in our favor; the peer pressure of other Illinois institutions considering these AV issues together this year, and the upcoming MayDay call to focus on disaster planning and “take personal and professional responsibility for doing something simple … but that can have a significant impact on an individual’s or a repository’s ability to respond.”

Greg MacAyeal, Northwestern University

For those of us gifted with the ability to hear, it’s hard to imagine a world without sound. Meaning is carried in the listening of our loved ones voices, the music we consume, and in all the other sounds we are surrounded with every day.  Recorded audio is the mechanical or digital capture of meaning – the rich experience of humanity. As stated by Rob Bamberger and Sam Brylawski in the introduction to The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age (Library of Congress, 2010): “Recorded sound is more than music and entertainment; it encompasses the sounds of the streets, of nature, and of the vanished folk heritage of indigenous and transplanted cultures, as well as of important national events and precious moments in our own personal lives.” It’s easy to understand the impact of audio. Reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous address on the Lincoln Memorial steps is inspiring indeed, but hearing the speech is altogether unforgettable. Everyone deserves the chance to hear “I Have a Dream”.

Library collections both large and small are likely to have some captured audio whether it’s in the form of a CD, a cassette tape or one of the many other formats. It’s not uncommon to find digital audio tape (DAT), open reel tape, LP phonodiscs, and 78 RPM phonodiscs. Special libraries and archives additionally own wire recordings, microcassettes, and Dictaphone belts and tapes. Of course, in 2016 most captured audio is in a digital format, of which there are many versions and kinds. Simply meeting the need of ensuring the longevity of audio collections is a large challenge, and one complete with a time sensitive deadline. If the format itself is not degrading, the playback equipment is hard to find and repair. For born digital collections, we have been slow to realize the need for a reformatting plan. With the estimated 46 million sound recordings at risk[1], action is needed now.

Miriam Centeno, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Why do you need to conduct a collection assessment?

Thus far in the year-long project on the preservation of audiovisual (AV) materials, the CARLI Preservation Committee has concentrated on the need for getting to know an institution’s AV holdings, by taking inventory and identifying formats. Much like the principle that “Form follows function,” the collecting priorities of an institution, the nature of the holdings, and their physical condition will greatly influence the creation of a preservation plan.

Conducting an assessment survey gathers all of the information together in one place, so that the next steps can be prioritized.  The survey can be as simple or as complex as a collection needs, the important thing is that the tool used to gather, store, and process the information is adequate to the scale of the holdings. This allows the surveyor to avoid building a huge survey that takes a very long time to complete and yields little useful information. For very small collections, a single spreadsheet that can be sorted by selected categories can suffice. For larger institutions, a tool that can grow as needs change will work better such as adding new locations and new collections to the general survey.

Miriam Centeno, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Have you ever had the experience of having a retired professor walk in to your library with an 8 mm film reel and not having the equipment to play it? Or has a donation come in for your archives with VHS tapes that are all covered in mold? How often do you worry about the state of your media collection? Have you ever tried to plan for its preservation?