Promoting IT and AV Preservation Collaboration in University Libraries

The increase in digitization of analog audiovisual materials across institutions has necessitated the investigation and development of digital repository models that incorporate support for archival audiovisual needs. This panel will explore ways in which institutions with different staffing, funding and storage models are currently carrying out audiovisual digitization efforts, with a focus on needs and obstacles related to digital storage services and support. In addition, the panel will discuss topics surrounding areas for improvement, including metadata management for archival masters, strategies for estimating expected growth and costs, and encouraging overall communication between the preservation and information technology divide.
 
The Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has begun a preservation and access program that will double storage needs in a three-year span through the increased digitization of audio and video materials. To manage these increased needs, the program staff are currently investigating and utilizing digital preservation services provided by the Carolina Digital Repository, a centralized repository providing “long-term access and safekeeping for scholarly works, datasets, research materials, records, and audiovisual materials produced by the UNC-Chapel Hill community”.
 
This year Harvard Library is rolling out a set of video preservation services at the university, which includes video reformatting services, and full support for video in the Library’s digital preservation repository. Although many people at the university have participated in some way in this project, it is largely a collaboration between two preservation departments (Digital Preservation and Media Preservation) and one library IT department (Library Technology Services). From a technology perspective, one of the largest challenges of this project has been the need to adjust workflows and infrastructure to prepare for the scale of video.
 
Cornell University Library began its AV digitization efforts in 2012 and has continued to expand, now creating as much as 2.2Tb per week during full production. Staff have created a task force, comprised of library technologists from the Digital Scholarship and Preservation Services and CUL Information Technology to analyze workflows, create concept mapping for materials, and create metadata application profiles for their various systems. Digital preservation at CUL won’t be a single solution, but rather a set of systems and IT partnerships across the University.
 
At Indiana University, the university-wide Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative (MDPI) has been one of the main drivers of work by both the libraries and central IT organization to enhance repository and digital storage services. This work includes: 1) co-development of Avalon Media System and HydraDAM2 open source digital repository applications; 2) increasing capacity of IU’s Scholarly Data Archive hierarchical storage management system for storage of digital masters; 3) development of a new organizational partnership between the libraries and IT and 4) investigation of beyond-campus digital preservation solutions such as the Digital Preservation Network (DPN) and Academic Preservation Trust.
 
Overall, the panel will highlight new trends and examples of IT participation in the field of audiovisual archiving and preservation with the intention of sharing common lessons learned, while exposing new opportunities for collaboration.