Last Updated: 20050909, tendeloo
T10 - Preservation, Archiving, and Restoration: A Look at Practical Application
Presenters:
David Ackerman, Harvard College Library Audio Preservation Services - Cambridge, MA, USA
Peter Alyea, Library of Congress - Washington D.C., USA
Chris Lacinak, VidiPax, LLC - Long Island City, NY, USA
Abstract:
This tutorial session will approach the practical application of three fundamentals associated with archiving preservation and restoration. These are reproduction, digitization, and metadata.
Reproduction
Faithful reproduction of source content is the overarching goal of reformatting. Faithful sonic reproduction is achieved by restoring the physical medium to its original condition. Although it may be expedient, shortcutting this labor-intensive phase is ultimately detrimental to the content. Any compromises made during these steps can affect the integrity of the transferred content to the detriment of future preservation and, of course, the value of the asset. We will look at diagnosis and treatment methods associated with media that is commonly found in sound archives.
Digitization
As archives rapidly reformat content from physical carriers toward digital systems the bridge used to make that transition and the systems that manage the content carry a great burden. Ensuring and maintaining integrity are simplistic in concept but difficult in practice. We will explore the practical application of digitization and the digital archive from a system-wide perspective.
Metadata
Without metadata there is no preservation in the digital archive. There is the matter of the content, as well as the relationships of the audio to other audio files in a project, a collection, and the archive itself. There are the technical characteristics of the file that must be known to retrieve the audio properly and the documentation of the work history behind the creation of the audio file. This presentation will explore the Harvard College Library’s use of the Harvard Digital Repository Service (DRS) for the preservation of unique and rare audio recordings.
