[ARSCLIST] Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Ob jects

[Green Richard <richard.green@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

For any institution considering a digitization program, or for anyone
looking for a reminder of basic principles, Guidelines on the Production and
Preservation of Digital Audio Objects (TC-04) is an essential introduction
and outline of all of the key elements of the audio digitization process.

Published by the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
(IASA) Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio
Objects (TC-04) was prepared by IASA's renowned Technical Committee, and
edited by Kevin Bradley of the National Library of Australia, the Guidelines
present a structured summary of current thinking and best practices
regarding the digitization and preservation of audio materials.  Written in
a clear precise manner, this publication will be invaluable for any archive,
library, museum or organization faced with the challenges of digitizing
audio materials.

These Guidelines have been endorsed by the Sub-Committee on Technology of
the Memory of the World Programme of UNESCO.  They were also praised and
frequently cited at the 2005 Association for Recorded Sound Collections
conference in Austin, Texas.

The Guidelines can be ordered through the IASA web site
http://www.iasa-web.org at a cost of 35 Euro per copy plus 5 Euro for
postage. Alternatively, it can be ordered through the North American
distributor Nauck's Vintage Records http://www.78rpm.com/ at a price of
$50.00 (U.S.) plus shipping. Nauck's accepts most major credit cards.


The Guidelines provide an excellent introduction to all aspects of digital
reproduction including:

Key Digital Principles and Standards

Metadata

Unique and Persistent Identifiers

Signal Extraction for Originals
        Reproduction of Historical Mechanical and other Obsolete Formats

        Reproduction of Vinyl LP records
        Reproduction of Analogue Magnetic Tapes
        Reproduction of Digital Magnetic Carriers
        Reproduction of Optical Disk Media (CD and DVD)

Preservation Target Formats and Systems
        Data and Audio Specific Storage Technology
        Digital Mass Storage Systems (DMSS)
        Data Tape Types and Formats
        Hard Disk Drives (SDD)
        Small Scale Manual Approaches to Digital Storage Systems
        Optical Disks: CD/DVD Recordables
        Magneto-Optical (MO) Disks
	

The discussion within each of these sections is comprehensive and includes
such topics as selection of best copy, cleaning and carrier restoration,
replay equipment, speed, replay equalization, various tape formats,
alignment, noise reduction, practical aspects of data protection strategies,
monitoring of data tape media, backup and migration, and, perhaps the most
important of all, costs.  There is also a bibliography.
 

For more information contact:

Ilse Assmann ( assmanni@xxxxxxxxxx ), Editor: IASA or
Kurt Nauck ( nauck@xxxxxxxxx  )  




Richard Green
IASA Vice-President
Acting Manager / Gestionnaire intérimaire
Music Section / Section de la musique
Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
395 Wellington Street / 395 rue Wellington
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0N4
Telephone / Téléphone:  613-995-3400
Fax / Télécopieur:  613-952-2895
Mailto:richard.green@xxxxxxxxxxxxx