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Research Guides

Care and Preservation

AVCompass - Tips on organizing and preserving your audiovisual collection from the Bay Area Video Coalition.

Care, Handling, and Storage of Audio Visual Materials - A quick online guide from the Library of Congress.

FilmCare.org - Best practices in film preservation from the Image Permanence Institute.

Film Preservation Guide: The Basics for Archives, Libraries, and Museums - From the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Film Forever: The Home Film Preservation Guide - Simple guidelines for preserving motion picture film at home, sponsored by AMIA.

Video Guidance - Information and resources from the National Archives.

Videotape Preservation Fact Sheets - Excellent overview of videotape preservation issues in the form of fact sheets from AMIA.

Identification

Audiovisual Formats: A guide to identification (PDF) - A quick illustrated reference from California Preservation Program. 

AV Artifact Atlas - Resource for identifying errors and anomalies in analog and digital video.

Identifying Motion Picture Film Formats - Overview with a list of additional resources from the National Archives.

Video Format Identification Guide - Illustrated guide to video formats from 1956-1995 by Sarah Stauderman.

Video Identification and Assessment Guide - Guide from Texas Commission of the Arts with excellent images to assist with id of video.  

Digitization

Preservation Guidelines for Digitizing Library Materials - From the Library of Congress.

Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) - Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative including guidelines for digitizing moving images.

Minimum Digitization Capture Recommendations - From ALA's Preservation and Reformatting Section.

Storage

Organizations

Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) - Resources for moving image archiving with some excellent publications on preservation.

National Film Preservation Board - Extensive list of resources for the preservation of America's film heritage.

National Film Preservation Foundation - Supports efforts to preserve America's film heritage through grants and publications.

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia - Film Preservation Handbook and other film preservation resources.

International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) - Brings together institutions dedicated to rescuing films both as cultural heritage and as historical documents.

International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) - Source of information on moving image preservation, especially magnetic and optical carriers.

Featured Books