Contents:
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Types of Carriers, Recording Principles, Composition, Physical and Chemical Stability, Deterioration by Replay
- 3 Passive Preservation: Environmental Factors, Handling and Storage
- 4 Storage Facilities and Transport
- 5 Disaster Preparedness: Fire, Water and Uninterrupted Power Supply
- 6 Conclusion
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- List of TC Members
These guidelines describe the main recording principles of sound and audiovisual carriers – mechanical, magnetic, and optical – their components, physical and chemical stability, and their vulnerability. Handling and environmental influences are also discussed and recommendations are given for proper storage. Its purpose is to facilitate extending the life of the physical carrier and ensuring responsible care for its integrity as an interim measure before professional longterm preservation through digitisation can be funded and organised.This set of guidelines is broadly divided into two main parts. The first part (Section 2), explains the main types of audio and video carriers, their composition and recording principles, physical and chemical stability, and deterioration caused by normal replay. It concentrates here on the physical and chemical integrity of traditional, haptic audio and video carriers, those carriers of recording systems that have been accepted by the market, and form 99% (or more) of all audio and video collections. It is not a handbook of audiovisual recording systems. The second part (Sections 3–5), advises on best practice for passive preservation through careful handling and appropriate storage and transport conditions. Cleaning and restoration of carriers is not part of this publication. These aspects are part of signal extraction and discussed in IASA-TC 04, chapter 5. The bibliography lists books and articles, including electronic information, which have become the “mainstream” of audiovisual preservation literature. It also contains primary source information: observations and appraisals based on the experiences of the authors gathered over years and decades.
This is the definitive guide on the subject, produced by a well respected group of specialists in the field. The layout and many illustrations are of additional help to the reader and as its introduction states “As many readers of this document will be non-native English speakers, simplicity of expression was the aim”. That goal has made the publication that much more useful. The writers emphasize that migration of analogue audio and video content to digital formats is no longer a question; its purpose is to ensure that in the very short meantime, proper handling and storage be implemented so that content stays usable long enough to transfer. This is an essential resource for any archivist responsible for storage and handling of physical audio and video carriers.The resource is free to IASA members; the rest of the community can purchase it on the IASA site.