[ARSCLIST] Advice sought on assessing value of sound archives

[Alec McLane <amclane@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm cross-posting this to a couple of lists, so apologies for duplication.

We are undergoing a change in insurance coverage at our institution and are
faced with the task of assessing the value of our library collections in
general. While published material is difficult enough to appraise when it's
old, it would seem nearly impossible to assess value for a sound recordings
archive such as the World Music Archive at Wesleyan, which consists almost
entirely of unique field recordings.

There is some literature on this - I'm aware of Helen Harrison's RAMP study
from 1987 - but I would like also to hear from fellow archivists who have
been through this before. Several obvious questions come to mind:

- What value can be ascribed to something on the basis of uniqueness, when
it cannot be re-acquired at any price?

- In a digital age, when an archive can make multiple identical copies of
recordings and the original is effectively retired from use, do the copies
have value beyond the cost of the physical material? Is the value of the
original diminished in any way, since it may no longer be necessary except
in an emergency? Is the value of a copy increased as the original
deteriorates and becomes unplayable?

- In the absence of "market demand" for original recordings such as these,
to what extent can value be determined at an academic institution by the
usefulness of the recording to the curriculum or to researchers?

I'd also be happy to hear answers to more basic questions - such as what
did you read and whom did you talk to when undergoing such an assessment?
Please reply to me off list if you wish, and thanks in advance.

Alec McLane


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alec McLane
Scores & Recordings/
 World Music Archives       Phone: (860) 685-3899
Olin Library                       Fax: (860) 685-2661
Wesleyan University          mailto:amclane@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Middletown, CT  06459       http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/srhome/srdir.htm