Audiotapes and Videotapes (and similar media)

DRAFT October 2013

Formats |  Appraisal | Description in FA | Born digital A/V | Workflow | Description in Bib | End processing

Introduction

In the past we have sometimes separated audiovisual material from manuscript collections for separate listing and description. Beginning in July 2013, processing of audiovisual material will be done by manuscript processors as part of the normal collection workflow. Processors should assess A/V material in their collection as part of their processing plan, and should consult with Joanne Donovan and Kelcy when determining what to do with A/V materials. Also check with Joanne for any "notes about collections" related to a/v materials.

When collections are accessioned, A/V material is noted and tracked, as of June 2018, in Media Projects Tracker (MPT), a new version of AV/DC tracker. If there is a significant amount of A/V material in a collection, it will also be noted in the bib record. Information from older accessions has been entered into MPT, however there may still be situations in which you come across A/V material in your collection that is not represented in MPT. If this occurs, talk to Joanne Donovan and get a number if you need one.

The types of audiovisual material and their corresponding numbers are as follows:

Audiocassettes and reel-to-reels   T- #

CDs and CD-ROMs                        CD- #

Phonograph albums                       Phon- #

Video material                                Vt- #

Motion pictures                              MP- #

DVDs                                             DVD- #

Within the finding aid each individual audiotape (or other media) receives a unique file unit number (e.g., T-249.1, T-249.2, etc.) Also, in most cases, all tapes in a collection will have the same "T-" or "CD-" number and then a separate reel/item number so that all tapes from the same collection can be shelved together. Instructions for how to list and tag A/V material in the finding aid are in the EAD finding aids and XMetal section of this manual.

Appraisal

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, describing at the item level, and providing long-term access? Additionally, if the material is from a television or radio broadcast available elsewhere, you may not need to keep the material or if it is kept, it can get a very low priority for digitization in AVDCtracker.  For TV news broadcasts, see Vanderbilt Television News Archive: http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/

The C-Span archive has most of its content available for streaming, at: http://www.c-span.org/search/

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.  Determine if you think you can listen/view each 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 were 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 collection, series, or subseries scope note something like:

Materials are audiocassettes unless otherwise noted.

or

Materials are VHS unless otherwise noted.

Description in inventory

Unlike paper materials, A/V materials require item-level handling (for the most part). Careful descriptions assist the researcher with determining research interest and will guide future library-wide preservation decisions.

Be sure to add the following note to the Access Restrictions section of the finding aid: Researchers must contact Research Services for access to audiovisual material.

In general, audiovisual materials should be listed in their own series, with necessary cross-references to related paper files, as appropriate. 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 whether or not to do this, consult Kelcy 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 Kelcy and Joanne.

The description/listing of each tape should consist of four or five parts (no format necessary if you've articulated it in the collection, series, or subseries scope note):

Title, Date. Format (if listing it). Description.

NOTE: as of Jun 2018 we will no longer indicate the length of the item in the finding aid, however we will still track this in MPT.

EXAMPLE from the National Abortion Rights Action League:

• • 1vt. "Public Square." Storer Broadcasting Company Public Affairs Presentation, WJKW-TV Cleveland, September 24, 1977. 28 minutes. 3/4 inch.

• • 2vt. "Intercom." Directed by Harrold Edris; Television 12 Public Affairs Presentation, October 9, 1977. 28 minutes. 3/4 inch.

Titles of radio and television programs should be italicized.

EXAMPLE from the Boston N.O.W. Records:

• • T-187.4. NOW We're Talking. "Open Doors." Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). WCAS. September 22, 1974. 31 minutes

Please note: We will NO LONGER use the "REQUEST AS" notes in the finding aid.

It's often not necessary to listen to or view 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.

NOTE: as of Jun 2018 we will no longer indicate the length of the item in the finding aid, however we will still track this in MPT.

Do your best to determine the actual time of the tape for statistical purposes. If you cannot, you may use "ca. 60 minutes" using the length of the entire tape capacity.

It's often easier to determine the length of videotapes by fast forwarding. Audio is more complicated, but if you can at least determine that the recording continues on the second side of the tape, the tape length can be noted as "ca. 90 minutes" or the full length of the tape. An audiocassette will often have an identifying mark to indicate "60" or "90" stamped on the edge.

Finding aid examples

Mixed collection with papers, Papers of Martha Stuart:

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00932

Mixed collection, multi-a/v formats: Ariel Dougherty:

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch01360

All audio collection: National Organization for Women Additional Audiotapes:

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch01430

All video collection: Judy Chicago:

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00366

Workflow

Let Joanne know when you are beginning research on a collection, so she can pass on any special instructions or information she has in her files.

There may be a/v materials in your collection that were removed from the collection during accessioning, but they should be included in your processing along with materials you locate among the paper materials.  To ensure that you have all the materials, ask Joanne to search  MediaProjectsTracker (MPT) and export a spreadsheet of any items listed for your collection. You can then use this spreadsheet as a place to record and update item descriptions.

Once you have located all of the A/V items, survey the material along with your collection and include a discussion and appraisal of it in your processing plan. If there are any published A/V materials, check Hollis to see if we have them already (either individually cataloged or included in another manuscript or A/V collection).

If the items had not yet been listed in MPT, and you do not have a spreadsheet, please create one using the AV_InventoryTemplate. When working with large collections, it is recommended that you have a student make a list of the titles of all a/v materials in the collection using the title column of the AVInventory spreadsheet.

Once you have done an initial assessment of the A/V (including transcribed list of titles), meet with Joanne to go over the items and determine which to keep and what kind of further description is required of each one.

After meeting with Joanne, finish adding description to the spreadsheet and send to Joanne for final review. 

Once the spreadsheet has been finalized, transform the spreadsheet data into EAD (ask Joanne for help with this) and add it to your finding aid.  More detailed instructions on filling out the spreadsheet and transforming the listing into EAD can be found here Adding EAD tags to Excel spreadsheet.

Copies and Duplicate material

We generally do not keep analog copies or duplicates to use as listening/viewing copies, but there may be exceptions to this rule, check with Joanne.  There may be times when your collection has already been digitized or a few items have already been reformatted, in this case we will want to add links to the finding aid for digitized materials. 

Describing audiovisual material in bib records

When processing a collection of solely audiovisual material, utilize the Aleph templates found here:

G:\SCHLES\COLLECTION SERVICES\AUDIOVISUAL\AV cataloging\Aleph templates

SCH_AUDC for an audio collection

SCH_VIDC for a video collection

(See also OLD instructions for Updating Aleph (post-processing), especially for more 007 examples)

In the bib record, add multiple 300 fields for papers and each kind of a/v:

(PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A NEW PRACTICE AND THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES ARE RDA COMPLIANT!)

300 $a # format   :

EXAMPLE: $a12 videocassettes :

EXAMPLE: $a2 sound cassettes :

       $b other physical details ;

EXAMPLE: $bsound, color ;

EXAMPLE: $bsound, black and white ;

EXAMPLE: $bsilent, black and white ;

EXAMPLE: $banalog.

       $c dimensions

EXAMPLE $c1/2 in.

EXAMPLE: from Anne Sexton Audiotapes and papers

EXAMPLE: from Judy Chicago Audiotapes

EXAMPLE: from Glenda Hydler papers (note: we now spell out "sound" and "color")

The below example describes: 1 reel to reel, 1 audiocassette, 3 VHS, 5 CDs and 9 motion pictures

EXAMPLE for DVDs:

300 $a4 videodiscs : $bsound, color ; $c4 ¾ in.

See also the Library of Congress for more examples:

http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd300.html

If you're not sure what to put in the 300 field, ask Joanne or Kelcy.

In the bib record, use form/genre headings (and others as appropriate) for:

655 b0  Audiotapes.

655 b7  Videotapes.$$2local

In the holdings record, use separate 007s (it’s okay to encode only the first two characters) for audio and for video.

Add an 007 for each unique type of format: VHS, U-matic, audiocassette, etc.

In the holdings record, always add a 506 governing audiovisual material:

506 1b   $a Researchers must contact Research Services for access to audiovisual material.

On rare occasions, processors may need to create a bibliographic record for a single audiovisual item, or a collection comprised of only audiovisual materials. In this case, please consult the A/V Cataloging Manual for specific details.  [Collection Services\Audiovisual\AV cataloging\Unpublished_AV_Cataloging_Manual.doc]

A/V End processing

1. 1. Write the appropriate T-, Vt-, etc., number, in pencil, on the tape label itself. For example:  T-345.1, T-345.2, etc. Joanne will also print out labels with the T-, Vt-, number for the audio or video cassette cases. For CDs and DVDs, write the CD-# and DVD-# directly on the inner white part of the discs with a permanent marker
   2. Once all of the materials are clearly marked, send Joanne an email letting her know they are ready
   3. Deliver the tapes to Joanne for labeling, housing, and shelving