Preservation of AV Materials in Manuscript Collections. Training for AV format identification and risk assessment. Actions to take

Preservation of AV Materials in Manuscript Collections; Internal Training.  Ben Harry. Brigham Young University. November 2018.
     The presentation is not yet available on the internet. Some notes from the training:
“There is now consensus among audiovisual archives internationally that we will not be able to support large-scale digitisation of magnetic media in the very near future. Tape that is not digitised by 2025 will in most cases be lost.”  -NFSA.gov.au, Oct. 2018

The problem with AV is Fragility:

• Playback equipment is disappearing
• Knowledgeable experts are disappearing
• Materials breaking down
• Untrained handling easily destroys materials

The solution to the fragility is to address materials in a timely manner:

• Priority and Speed and Efficiency
• Train transfer operators
• Untrained handling easily destroys materials

A Challenge of AV is Neglect:

• Unable to describe AV Content adequately in finding aids or catalogs. 
• Requires certain level of specific knowledge of formats and physical carriers.
• Requires machine to read information that may not be available
• Time-consuming process for little reward
• Expensive, unstructured, uncoordinated

To overcome the challenge:

• Digitize material for description in basic processing
• Time-consuming process for little reward
• MUST be a lean process to minimize the effect upon processing

Audio-video preservation requires a certain level of specific knowledge. Staff must be trained to recognize and report AV Formats. Also, it is important to have risk assessment guidelines to help make informed decisions. Coordinate efforts and resources to reduce confusion, prioritize and set goals, unify our proposals for equipment and man power.


Actions to take:

• Prioritize Formats for Migration / Reformatting
• Maintain Transparent Records on Preservation and Access
• Link Preservation and Access (one does not happen without the other)
• Provide Curators with AV Assessment tools
• Organize a Queue System to keep things equitable (what about 12 items per month, per curator? Adjust as Necessary)
• Create Digital File Naming guidelines
• Establish Access and Preservation format standards for AV materials:

 For Access and Preservation, the following standards will be used:

Audio Preservation

• Preservation Format:  PCM / wav 96 kHZ sampling   24-bit depth. 1 GB/Hour
• Access Copy: mp3.  Music: 256 kbps. Voice: 192 Kbps.

Video Preservation: Standard Def

• Preservation Format: ffv1 / mkv 720 x 486. 33 GB/Hour  
• Access Copy: H.264 / mp4

Video Preservation: Hi Def

• Preservation Format: ffv1 / mkv Native: 1080i / 1080p. 100 GB/Hour?  
• Access Copy: H.264 / mp4

Film Preservation

• Preservation Format: RGB ffv1 / mkv 1080i scan (MPS capability ceiling). 100 GB/Hour?  
• Access Copy: H.264 / mp4

Archive and delivery methods:

• Preservation: Rosetta
• Access: various options are available. 

Digital Preservation Matters.