OCLC Safe Sound Archive Partnership ALA 2005 Midwinter

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 World. Cat. 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 virtually all 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 Rf. P 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 Preservation Digitization & Processing

Collections of different media

Old Selection Criteria Media are separated from related materials Discontinuity 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)

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 - Power. Point™ presentation - Full Text document of oral presentation - Charles Kolb’s outline -. pdfs of Alan Lewis’ handouts -Sarah Stauderman’s Power. Point™ 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)

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 Assessment Tricks of the trade Tape on the left is sticky. Tape should flow off reel freely, such as on right Acetate is translucent Polyester (Mylar) is opaque

Safe Sound Archive’s Expertise with Analog Media 14 1/4” Reel-to-reel Machines All Speeds 15/16, 1 7/8, 3 3/4, 7 1/5, 15, 30 ips; ± 50% All Sizes 2”, 3”, 4”, 5”, 7”, 10. 5”, 12”, 14” All Equalizations NAB, CCIR, AES All Track Formats Full-Track Mono 1/2 -track (NAB & CCIR) 1/4 -track Experience to custom-modify as needed

Safe Sound Archive’s Expertise with Analog Media Broadcast direct-drive turntables All Speeds 33, 45, 70. 29 -80 ips; ± 10% All Sizes 5”, 7”, 10”, 12”, 16” All Equalizations NAB, RIAA, AES, non-standard All Groove Formats Mono, Stereo, L/R, L+R, L-R All Groove Sizes from microgroove to 10. 0 mil Center, Edge, or Reverse Play

Questions? George Blood Safe Sound Archive georgeblood@safesoundarchive. com (215) 248 -2100 www. 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 96 k. Hz/24 bit –. 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 – 5 x play time for T 1. 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 mp 3 or WMA • Depends on Needs – Too restricted to put on-line – Beyond institutional abilities or needs • Perhaps as-needed only

Questions? George Blood Safe Sound Archive georgeblood@safesoundarchive. com (215) 248 -2100 www. safesoundarchive. com