[ARSCLIST] Magnetic Tape - questions...

[Melanie Brown <mbrown@xxxxxxx>]

I work in an archive of mixed materials - paper collections and audio/visual collections.  I am sorting through reel-to-reel 1/4" audio tape, and I am seeing things that are making me doubt my prior standards...

In the classroom and in many "best-practices" that I have read, reels are recommended to be stored tails-out, oxide facing in.  When splicing repairs or attaching heads/tails, the splicing tape is to be place on the backing of the tape - the shiny side.

In my travels through the archive, I am noticing many reels that are wound shiny-side IN, and many many instances of splicing tape applied to the dull, recorded side. 

Are my standards too high?  Am I remembering my classroom notes backwards?  Any thoughts would be appreciated, to help me make "heads or tails" of this.  Thank you!