Introduction to Archival Organization and Description: Access to Cultural Heritage

Related records

• Archiving and Authenticity: The Getty Art History Information Program Research Agenda for Networked Cultural Heritage Bibliography

• Archiving the Audio-Visual Heritage Bibliography

• Preservation Links Preservation

  Compiled list of web references used in the Preservation area; entries comprise archival bodies, professional associations, museums, conservation and media preservation organizations, technical vendors and preservation initiatives. Notable institutions cited include the Library of Congress, American Film Institute, George Eastman House Selznick School of Film Preservation, UCLA Film and Television Archive, National Film Preservation Foundation and WGBH Universal Preservation Format Initiative. The list also cites regional alliances, laboratories and specialty service providers for audiovisual and document conservation.

• Assessing a Collection for Preservation Preservation

  Sarah Stauderman of the Smithsonian Institution presented an adapted Society of American Archivists matrix for prioritizing videotape collections at the Looking Back/Looking Forward symposium (May 31–June 1, 2002). She outlined a survey form with parts for identification, value assessment and risk assessment, illustrated by 1972 half-inch reel-to-reel panda research tapes; scoring combined institution value, access, legal custody, physical condition and obsolescence to produce reformatting priorities. Participants discussed formats (reel, U-matic, VHS, BetaCam, digital), cataloguing, shared custodial responsibilities and projects such as IMAP and the AMIA Moving Image Gateway.

• Histories

  Compiled directory of websites offering histories and chronologies of media culture, systems and tools; entries include museums (American Computer Museum, Museum of Television, Museum of TV and Radio, Obsolete Computer Museum), institutional archives and foundations (Daniel Langlois Foundation Centre for Research and Documentation; Woody and Steina Vasulka Archive; WGBH New Television Workshop Archives), scholarly and association resources (Media History Project; International Association for Media and History; Radio History Society), and specialized timelines and thematic collections on computing, cinema, radio, recording and pre-cinema.

• Preservation Planning and Management Preservation

  Preservation Planning and Management provides guidance and a list of consultants and resources for audiovisual preservation, organized under sections for consultants, project planning and management, collection assessment and surveys, collection management, appraisals, and resources. It cites James C. Scholtz’s Developing and Maintaining Video Collections in Libraries (Santa Barbara, CA: CLIO, 1989) and notes the Magnetic Media Preservation Sourcebook available from Media Alliance; listings are provided as a service and are not endorsements by Media Alliance or the Experimental Television Center. Named consultants and institutions (including Boston Art Conservation; Heritage Resource Management Associates; Hollywood Vaults; the Image Permanence Institute at RIT; VidiPax; and others) are described with services such as collection assessment, appraisal, storage and environmental surveys, disaster planning, grant consultation, cataloging, and technical research on temperature, humidity and pollutants.