Session 6: Making A/V Materials Discoverable

Abstract

Our collections are not relevant if no one knows they exist. This is a problem that particularly affects audiovisual collections, which require significantly more processing to make them discoverable and available. How have institutions tackled this problem, and how can we do better going forward? Speakers in this session will present about working with audiovisual material in their institutions and address how to keep the momentum from special projects going. Archives are losing materials every day as magnetic tape deteriorates, films succumb to sticky-shed syndrome, and hardware to play obsolete media becomes increasingly scarce. How do we advocate for budgeting and staffing for audiovisual digitization to ensure our collections remain accessible? The speakers will also discuss ways of building an audiovisual digitization workflow that is not dependent on special funding.