oclc/safe sound archive partnership. ala 2005 midwinter announcement “we would like to announce...

OCLC/Safe Sound Archive Partnership

ALA 2005 Midwinter Announcement

“We would like to announce the formation of a partnership between Safe Sound Archive and OCLC to provide cost-effective services to audio collections, including: digital reformatting, archiving and improved access through Open WorldCat.

Using our combined expertise, this partnership will allow for a convenient, integrated solution through either OCLC or Safe Sound Archive.”

The OCLC/Safe Sound Archive Partnership can assist in virtuallyall stages of collections care & management

Located in Philadelphia

Visitors Welcome!

Services

• Archival Storage

Archival Storage

Services

• Archival Storage• Conservation

Conservation

Services

• Archival Storage• Conservation• Preservation/Digitization

Preservation/Digitization

Services

• Archival Storage• Conservation• Preservation/Digitization• Restoration

Restoration

• Remove Hum• Reduce Hiss• Improve intelligibility• Improve compression for Web delivery

• Remaster for commercial release

Services

• Archival Storage• Conservation• Preservation/Digitization• Restoration• Consulting

Consulting

• Project Design• RfP Writing• Preservation Studio Design & Equipping

• Preservation Assessments

How the partnership serves you:• One-stop shopping• Better integration• Blind to user• Rethinking the approach to preservation

Collections-oriented

PreservationDigitization& Processing

Collections of different media

Old Selection Criteria

Media are separated from related materialsDiscontinuity in collections processing

New Selection Criteria

Organizes work around the collection

Creates continuity for how all materials

within collection are handled

Sound Collections’ Assessment/Triage• Every situation is different• Curatorial Prioritization• Preservation Assessment Report• Use & Access

– Is used?– Would be used?

• Obsolescence• Deterioration• Scale• Existing Plan/Criteria (or lack thereof)

Sound Collections’ Assessment/Triage• Every situation is different• Curatorial Prioritization• Preservation Assessment Report• Use & Access

– Is used?– Would be used?

• Obsolescence • Deterioration• Scale• Existing Plan/Criteria (or lack thereof)

Arm Yourself with Information! What’s on the CD• Mixed-Mode CD, with both CD-Audio portion and -ROM section with files.

• Materials from “Saving Sound” Session- PowerPoint™ presentation- Full Text document of oral presentation- Charles Kolb’s outline-.pdfs of Alan Lewis’ handouts-Sarah Stauderman’s PowerPoint™

• Planning, Standards- “Planning an Audio Preservation Transfer Project”- Collection of “Standards” compiled by David Seubert- 2 CLIR Papers- Papers on disaster planning and recovery by Steve Smolian and Peter

Brothers• Other Resources

- Library of Congress Disc Cleaning Solution formula- Collection of URLs- Bibliography

• Audio Samples- Examples of a 78 rpm played with different stylus sizes- Sound of Sticky Shed Syndrome- Examples of different capture options for 78 rpm discs

Sound Collections’ Assessment/Triage• Every situation is different• Curatorial Prioritization• Preservation Assessment Report• Use & Access

– Is used?– Would be used?

• Obsolescence• Deterioration• Scale• Existing Plan/Criteria (or lack thereof)

Sound Collections’ Assessment/Triage• Every situation is different• Curatorial Prioritization• Preservation Assessment Report• Use & Access

– Is used?– Would be used?

• Obsolescence• Deterioration• Scale• Existing Plan/Criteria (or lack thereof)

Obsolescence

• If you don’t know what it is, finding a machine to play it on will probably present a challenge

Obsolescence

• Quality equipment is rapidly becoming very difficult to acquire– Our recent search for top-of-the-line, highest quality 1/4” reel-to-reel machines took 9 months (and we’re still looking for parts for one machine)

Deterioration

• Where the curator and the vendor meet• “First, do not harm”• In-house assessment can identify issues• Sound preservation is more like paper conservation than image scanning

• Vendor will have volumes of experience– During 2006 Safe Sound Archive will process 5,000 hours of sound recordings

In-house Curatorial Assessment Some problems are obvious Victims of

bad storage conditions

Victims of poor handling

In-house Curatorial AssessmentTricks of the trade

Acetate is translucentPolyester (Mylar) is opaque

Tape on the left is sticky. Tape should flow off reel freely, such as on right

Safe Sound Archive’sExpertise with Analog Media

14 1/4” Reel-to-reel Machines

All Speeds15/16, 1 7/8, 3 3/4, 7 1/5, 15, 30 ips; ±50%

All Sizes2”, 3”, 4”, 5”, 7”, 10.5”, 12”, 14”

All EqualizationsNAB, CCIR, AES

All Track FormatsFull-Track Mono1/2-track (NAB & CCIR)1/4-track

Experience to custom-modify as needed

Safe Sound Archive’sExpertise with Analog Media

Broadcast direct-drive turntables

All Speeds33, 45, 70.29-80 ips; ±10%

All Sizes 5”, 7”, 10”, 12”, 16”

All EqualizationsNAB, RIAA, AES, non-standard

All Groove FormatsMono, Stereo, L/R, L+R, L-R

All Groove Sizesfrom microgroove to 10.0 mil

Center, Edge, or Reverse Play

Questions?

George BloodSafe Sound Archivegeorgeblood@safesoundarchive.com

(215) 248-2100www.safesoundarchive.com

Standards & Best Practices• Standards Out of Date

– Call for analog tape– EBU has standard

• Best Practices Abound– What’s best for your institution & situation

Preservation Set

• Preservation Master• Use & Access Copy• Web-Accessible Copy

Preservation Master

• Key Traits– Rarely accessed– Most important to manage– Typically 96kHz/24bit– .WAV or .BWF

•“wave” or “broadcast wave”

– Rarely, though sometimes still 1/4” analog

Preservation Master

• Key Advantages– Widely used– Higher resolution than 99% of sources

– Better than most playback chains– Derivatives easily created– EBU standard

Preservation Master

• Key Difficulties– No standard storage medium– Data tapes expensive to maintain– Too big for CD-ROM– On-line storage requires ongoing maintenance

– Internet delivery impractical– 5x play time for T1 .ftp

Preservation Master

• Typical Solution– 96/24 on hard drive to digital library•Enterprise-level storage

– 96/24 on DVD-ROM•Can be migrated easily to HDD when available

– Do something else•Gold CD-R•CD-ROM

Use & Access Copy

• Key Traits (and Advantages!)– Readily accessible– User-friendly format– Good enough to substitute if Preservation Master is lost

– Nearly always CD-Audio

Use & Access Copy

• Key Difficulties (CD-Audio vs. CD-ROM)– CD-DA (digital audio)

• Pure serial-read (can’t re-read to correct errors, even transient errors)

– CD-ROM (digital audio as data)• Sector-based, so can re-read (more reliable)• Requires computers (software, OS, etc.) to retrieve

– CD-DA more widely playable– CD-ROM more reliably played

Use & Access Copy

• Typical Solutions (depend somewhat on Preservation Master)

– CD-DA for near-universal playability– Multiple copies

• CD-DA, one copy on “gold”, one on “green”• CD-ROM (gold?) and CD-DA (green)

– Gold CD-R for Preservation Master, Green for U&A

Web-Accessible Copy

• Depends on Rights– RA & ACC more secure than mp3 or WMA

• Depends on Needs– Too restricted to put on-line– Beyond institutional abilities or needs

• Perhaps as-needed only

Questions?

George BloodSafe Sound Archivegeorgeblood@safesoundarchive.com

(215) 248-2100www.safesoundarchive.com