[AV Media Matters] Tiny Archives Squeak in Protest

[sallen@gwm.sc.edu]

To Jim Lindner and all:

I'll start where I ended last time, "With no offense intended, but also
a great sense of weariness".  I'm more rested this morning, though.

Jim L. (and Jim W., for that matter), I have a tremedous amount of
respect, awe even, for what you know, and for how much you share with us
on this list, and on the AMIA-L list.  Access to this breadth and depth
of information is worth the price of admission, or is worth a PRICE of
admission, if one were charged.  (I know there's no cost, but it takes a
lot of time to read all of the posts 8^).

Thanks for breaking out what you meant about "Regional archives and
depositories where an economy of scale can be maintained."  Initially,
it was not apparent that you meant, essentially, different small
archives joining forces for a "group buy" of services (film
preservation, tape migration, etc.)
Taken with other comments I've heard, it originally sounded like little
archives should get out of the business and let Corbis, Getty, etc,
finish taking over.  

>Economy of scale has to do with the concept of depreciating (or
>spreading) the cost of a large infrastructure over many items. It has
nothing >whatsoever to do with the size of an archive - it is an
economic term. 

I am aware of what "economy of scale" means.  What was not clear was
the "cooperative" aspect that you apparently intended.

>As far as "buying" respect, well frankly that is a cheap shot with no
>basis in fact.I guess all I can say is that I have tremendous respect
>for small archives. 

I'm sorry if you took it that way.  The comment, first of all, was a
light-hearted jab, not an angry accusation.  To the extent to which
there was more to it, it had to do with a somewhat dismissive tone I
perceive at times.  It's fantastic that you donate all of the time you
do, and it's great to hear about it.  I was unaware of it.

>So - with all due respect, keep up the good work. Keep the stuff
alive
>long enough so that it can be migrated - because if you think that
>people will be able to play back BetaSP tapes 200 years from now -
you
>are wrong, so we better come up with some solutions - and fast for
large
>AND small AND tiny archives. Do you have any helpful suggestions??

Frankly, I like most of yours.  We're small fish, doing the best we can
to do to survive, day to day.  We have a hard enough time getting
respect on our home turf, even from people who purport to be helping us.
 My only helpful suggestion is for people who are making big
developments and shaking things up, to realize that many archives cannot
necessarily afford them.  Now that I understand you were talking about
small archives ordering services together, to get better prices, I see
that you're aware of that.  Thank you.

If you look at what I excerpted, and at what I said, I was not saying
that new solutions were not necessary, and certainly not that Beta SP
tapes will be playable in 200 years (or 100).  I was objecting to what I
felt was a dismissive tone directed at tiny archives.

I stand corrected 8^),
Scott Allen
University of South Carolina Newsfilm Library
sallen@gwm.sc.edu 
www.sc.edu/newsfilm/ 

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