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Research Guides

Care and Preservation

ARSC Guide to Audio Preservation - An introduction to caring for and preserving audio collections. It is aimed at individuals and institutions that lack expertise in one or more areas to preserve audio collections.

Audio and video carriers - Recording principles, storage and handling, maintenance of equipment, format and equipment obsolescence by Dietrich Schuller.

Audiovisual archiving: philosophy and principles - A philosophy of audiovisual archiving by Ray Edmondson.

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

Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists - Describes care and handling requirements for optical discs.

IPI Media Storage Quick Reference - Guidelines for environmental storage of media.

National Archives Audio Guidance - Practical advice on preserving a variety of audio recordings.

Identification

Audiovisual Formats: A guide to identification (PDF) - Identification and basic storage guidelines from California Preservation Program.

FACET: Format Characteristics and Preservation Problems (PDF) - Characteristics and preservation problems found in field audio collections.

PSAP Format ID Guide: Audiovisual Media - Extensive guide to audio and video formats with lots of photographs.

Digitization

FADGI Guidelines - Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative including guidelines for digitizing audio.

Guidelines on the production and preservation of digital audio objects : IASA-TC04 -  - Guidelines on digitization for preservation from IASA.

Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation (PDF) - Extensive guide from Indiana University and Harvard. 

Storage

Organizations and Publications

International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) - Excellent source of information on audio preservation.

Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) - Dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings.

Audio Engineering Society (AES) -  Devoted to audio technology and especially strong on technical information and standards.