Beyond Paper: Audio-Visual Formats

Stephanie Gowler, Book and Paper Conservator, Northwestern University Libraries

Basic preservation guidelines for audiovisual (AV) materials will sound familiar to anyone responsible for book and paper collections:

• Maintain a stable environment: Unlike film base formats (discussed last month), AV materials should NOT be frozen; keep them in a cool environment with 30-50% relative humidity (RH).
• Handle carefully with clean, dry hands and keep away from food, drink, and smoke.
• Place in supportive housings made of inert plastics (polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester) or pH neutral, buffered paper/paperboard. AV materials, including discs, cassettes, and open reel formats, should be stored vertically on shelves or in boxes.

The combined challenges of physical deterioration, obsolete media formats, and limited access to appropriate playback equipment or technical expertise can make efforts to preserve AV collections especially daunting. 

Because preservation of AV materials will nearly always entail digitization, projects can be complex, costly and time consuming. That’s why having a clear understanding of what types of collections you have and establishing specific criteria for determining preservation priorities – priorities that balance the research value of the collection, the preservation needs of the format, and the technological resources available – is a crucial first step. Assume that you get one chance to digitize AV materials and take the time to plan and budget accordingly.

The Preservation Self-Assessment Program Collection ID Guide is an excellent resource for identifying the types of media formats you have in your collection. Broad categories of AV formats include magnetic media (e.g., open reel and cassette tapes), optical media (e.g., CDs, DVDs) and grooved media (e.g., wax cylinders, phonograph albums).

One of the biggest challenges with AV materials is that they are not human-readable. This is why it is important to keep all associated information – things like notations written on labels and the original housing – which may be the only clue you have about the content. These notes can also provide valuable information to audio engineers about the recording speed and other factors that can influence the quality of the reproduction.

Digitization of AV collections is often one of the preservation projects that will need to be outsourced to a vendor with the appropriate playback equipment and trained audio engineers. The CLIR “Recordings at Risk” grants, the DLF series on AV digitization projects, and the NEDCC Funding for Audio Preservation resources are all good places to start your planning process.

Resources

• Digital Library Federation (DLF) Series: Strategies for AV Digitization Projects
• Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) “Recordings at Risk” Grants
• Preservation Self-Assessment Program (PSAP) Collection ID Guide
• Library of Congress AV Preservation Guide
• NEDCC: Funding for Audio Preservation
• Association for Recorded Sound Collections

View additional articles in the Beyond Paper Blog Series.