LTO storage technology in audio visual archives

The long term preservation and access of digital objects underlies much archival work, making the storage of these objects a frequent topic of inquiry and study among the community. Cost, security, space, environmental impact, and accessibility all determine how or where an archive stores their digital materials. In particular, storage is a constant concern to the audio visual community, as preservation master file sizes can be significantly larger than other types of digital objects.
 
This paper will present data and analysis on the use of LTO (Linear Tape Open) technology through case studies of the archives at CUNY Television and Crowing Rooster Arts. The paper will discuss the capabilities and traditional uses of LTO technology, as well as the specific needs of the two audio visual archives in the case studies. In particular, the paper will discuss the ways in which the capabilities of LTO technology enable practical digital preservation in institutions that lack extensive storage infrastructures.
 
In 2013, Crowing Rooster Arts began outsourcing videotapes to A/V Geeks for digitization at the recommendation of two archival consultants. A part-time audiovisual archivist was hired to manage the process, and after a year of storing content on portable hard drives it became clear that another storage solution was required. In 2015, necessary hardware was purchased, including LTO 6 tapes and drives. At Crowing Rooster, LTO 6 tapes are used to store preservation level (i.e. 10-bit uncompressed) digital video files. The case study will present why LTO 6 technology was the most cost-effective and practical option for a small non-profit media organization looking to migrate 20+ year old videotapes showing signs of deterioration, with no budget for servers (or IT staff), and no immediate desire to donate materials to an organization with a digital repository.
 
Presently, CUNY Television stores approximately 1 petabyte of data on LTO 5 tapes. Beginning in September of 2015, a National Digital Stewardship Resident was placed in the Library and Archives, and was tasked with planning and implementing a migration of this material from LTO 5 to LTO 7. Large Archival Information Packages (AIPs) that include preservation masters as well as multiple access copies, make up much of the contents of the LTO tapes. Furthermore, the material stored on LTO 5 was packaged and written to tape using a different workflow than is in place presently. The case study will provide analysis of the planning and implementation of the data migration, as well as the experience of working with LTO 5 and LTO 7 technology for the storage and access of audio visual files.