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Appraisal of audiovisual material should take into account the high cost of preservation to make the media accessible for the future. Always ask yourself: Is this something worth adding to the collection and providing long-term access? Discuss appraisal decisions with Joanne. See workflow section for more specific suggestions about research to assist with appraisal.
Assessment and general description
Look at the physical condition of each tape. ListenDetermine if you think you can listen/view if viableeach one. If media can not be viewed or is damaged in some way, talk to Joanne about options.
Write a general scope and content note about the media as part of the processing plan. Determine the parameters of description. Record if most titles are those of the donor, or created during processing. If all the media are audiocassettes, you do not need to list "audiocassette" after every description, but you do need to say in the scope note something like:
Materials are audiocassettes unless otherwise noted.
Description in inventory
In general, Audiovisual materials should be listed in their own series. In cases where there are less than 10 items and they are strongly related to other documents in the collection, the materials can be listed where appropriate in other series. If you have questions about this, consult your team lead and Joanne.
In general, arrange audiovisual materials by format, and then by date. If there are a large number of tapes and the creation of subject-related subseries would be helpful for researchers, discuss options with your team lead and Joanne.
The description/listing of each tape should consist of four parts:
Title. Description. Date. Time.
It's often not necessary to listen to each tape in its entirety. Generally you only need to listen/view the beginning and end to make sure the tape is labeled correctly and to ascertain important production data (and length). If unlabeled, a tape may require more time, but use best judgment. When describing the content of the tape, you need to pull out the important themes, but do not need to provide a frame-by-frame, or topic-by-topic, analysis. A good example of adequate content description is in the Blu Greenberg Audiovisual Collection.
- Notes: create a spreadsheet, using avworkseet at G:\SCHLES\Collection Services\Audiovisual\AVcataloging, to keep notes on each tape: title, speakers, event, date, subject and important themes
Description in inventory
[NEED HELP FROM JOANNE FOR THIS PART]
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