Dear Maddie,
We do something similar at the Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings. Patrons who request a digital copy get access to an MP3, while the WAV file is stored permanently (and of course the original recording is preserved). We also use Preservica and Aviary. If the recording isn't already digitized, we send it to a reputable vendor, otherwise the demand on studio time would be too great (I still make transfers in-studio for my teaching and presentation use, however). This is in addition to our larger digitization projects.
All best wishes,
Mark
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From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Maddie Dietrich <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2022 3:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] 16" transcription disc player?
Thank you all for your valuable input. I am inexperienced in this area, but
I have more experience than everyone else in my department so I'm more or
less in charge of the project. I am in the early stages of writing an
internal policy for transferring audio from the various formats we hold.
What we're not doing is wholesale transfers of our collections into
high-quality audio for archival/preservation purposes. What we are
considering is establishing the capacity to fulfill one-off patron requests
for a single audio file by making a listening copy (mp3) available either
through streaming (we're looking at migrating to Preservica as a streaming
platform as well as for storage) or possibly download depending on the
situation. If we decide to digitize all or part of our holdings for
preservation purposes, we most assuredly will farm the work out to an
expert! In the meantime I know digitizing individual audio objects one at a
time on an as-needs basis isn't ideal (and I'm well aware that our tape
holdings are disintegrating as I write this, and the CDs, etc), I feel like
it's better than providing no access at all to these materials. Otherwise,
(as I've said before) we're just storing objects. I'll continue to consult
members of the list with questions as they come up. Again, all of your
input is helpful and I very much appreciate your time and expertise.
Thanks,
Maddie
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