IASA 2017 Annual Conference

Books and other print materials spring to mind right away when people think of libraries. But as institutions of memory and research, university libraries and archives serve users a much wider variety of materials. Cornell University Library is making a concerted effort to fundamentally associate Audio-Visual materials in the minds of our community members. Important in doing so, is the need to to preserve at-risk analog AV materials, and provide more convenient yet appropriate access to their digital surrogates. Completed pilot projects in analog AV preservation and access have garnered our AV Preservation Lab the opportunity to create a larger scale multi-year production plan. We’ve designed essential workflows in association with our University Archives, Library Technical Services and Cornell high-density storage facility. This included consideration of hardware, software, codecs/wrappers, metadata gathering, embedded metadata profiles, and full-featured preservation storage. Continuous assessment of the ever-changing landscape of digital library technology and standards, and awareness of student and researcher expectations, has helped us pick methodologies that will stand the test of time well, while also continuing to prepare us to recognize when change may be called for.