Columbia Audio/Moving Image Survey Tool

Columbia University Libraries has developed and tested a tool to
inventory and assess the physical condition of audio and moving
image materials.  The /Preservation Survey Tool for Audio and Moving
Image Collections/ and the accompanying instruction manual are now
available for download to anyone interested in surveying a
collection at

    <URL:http://www.columbia.edu/
        cu/lweb/services/preservation/audiosurvey.html>

    **** Moderator's comments: The above URL has been wrapped for
    email. There should be no newline.

This survey tool is designed for use by librarians and archivists
who are not media experts.  It provides a mechanism to develop
preservation priorities by recording quantities and types of audio
and moving image materials, documenting the physical condition of
the media and their housings, collecting information about existing
levels of intellectual control and intellectual property rights, and
evaluating their potential research value.

Applicable either to an item-by-item inventory or a random-sample
survey, the survey tool allows for but does not require collection
of a great deal of detail about each item.  Most fields provide
drop-down menus to minimize keying and to assure consistent use of
vocabulary. Technical terminology is based on that used by the Audio
Engineering Society, Association of Moving Image Archivists, and
other relevant organizations

Survey-wide and collection-specific reports can be generated, as
well as lists of collections ranked by research importance and
degree of physical damage, and lists of the different media.

Funding to design the survey was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation.

Janet Gertz
Director, Preservation and Digital Conversion Division
Columbia University Libraries


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:1
                   Distributed: Sunday, June 22, 2008
                        Message Id: cdl-22-1-003
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