Electronic Media Collections Care for Small Museums and Archives

STEP 1 — Collection Survey

Survey electronic media collections

To create a preservation strategy for electronic media, museums need to know:

• the contents of the collection
• the physical state, or health, of the collection
• the available supporting infrastructure (operating system software, other software, hardware)

To collect this information, ask the following four key questions:

1. What electronic media formats are in the collection?
2. What equipment or software is necessary to access the information, and is it available in-house?
3. What is the condition of the various media?
4. What is the significance of the recorded material?

1. What electronic media formats are in the collection?

To properly gauge the scope of the preservation effort that will be required, find out:

• what types of video and audio media and file formats are in the collection
• how many and which types of CDs and DVDs are in the collection
• if there are any magnetic disks in the collection or other media formats such as flash media

The following Web sites provide more information about electronic media formats:

• VidiPax (discussion on audio, video, film, and data restoration and preservation)
• Texas Commission on the Arts (Videotape Identification and Assessment Guide)
• Wikipedia (discussion on digital tape formats)
• The PC Guide (information on hard disk drives)
• Steve’s Digicams Online, Inc. (discussion on flash memory cards)

2. What equipment or software is necessary to access the information, and is it available in-house?

Without the necessary equipment and possibly the specific software that was used to create the information, the electronic media cannot be read. It is important to determine what proportion of the collection was recorded on hardware or software that is no longer readily available.

If the technology does not exist in-house, it will be necessary to do one of the following to retrieve the information on the media:

• purchase the necessary equipment
• send the media to companies specializing in converting information from obsolete hardware and software to the new, chosen format

To determine which media will require attention sooner rather than later, keep informed about marketplace trends.

3. What is the condition of the various media?

Magnetic media and optical disc media are vulnerable to various problems, both chemical and physical.

Take note of items that have degraded and describe their condition. Damaged media may need immediate treatment to prevent loss of the media and/or the information they contain. Information on damaged media should be transferred to new media as quickly as possible.

 For more information, see CCI’s range of Technical Bulletins, including TB #27 Remedies for Deteriorated or Damaged Modern Information Carriers.

4. What is the significance of the recorded material?

Identify any unique records in the electronic media collection. Perhaps there is videotape of deceased celebrities or important events, or audiotape of endangered languages, or unique scientific records on a CD or DVD. These items of special significance are priorities for preservation. They can also be used to generate interest for raising funds for preservation work — not only for the items themselves but also for the rest of the collection. In a smaller institution, this evaluation could probably be conducted in parallel with a condition survey.

Completing Step 1 provides the necessary information for Step 2 — Improved Storage.