Collection Management: Multimedia Library - Film

Acquisition of the materials (Technical Aspects of Obtaining Original Film vs. Manifested Digital Copy)

• Copyright issues: Statement of Purchase or Donor Letter - acknowledgement and transferring of the ownership rights (See Creative Commons)
   
• Film Inventory Evaluation
  • Film Title, Date, BW/Color, Sound/Silent, Footage, Time, Format, Condition notes
  • Composition of the Film:
    • Film has three principal components: a support made of a sheet of transparent plastic, a gelatin emulsion, and an image of color dyes or metallic silver.
    • Three different types of plastic have been used in film manufacture: nitrate (1890-1950), acetate (1925-present), and polyester (1960-present). Nitrate and acetate plastics are prone to chemical decompose, giving off acids. Polyester plastic is much more chemical stable.

• Evaluate the Films
  • Value determination (legal custody of the materials, date of the content, genre, subject, and access)
  • Film risk assessment (format, physical condition, and copy available)
  • Copy generation (master, unique, duplicate, service)
  • Material condition (See FilmForever)
    • Material type: Triacetate, Diacetate, Polyester
    • Material generation: Positive, Reversal, Fine grain, Soundtrack only, Image only
    • Material damage: Physical damage, Emulsion scratches, Base scratches, Perforation Damage, Edge/performation repair, Projector oil & dirt, Warpage, Shrinkage, Color fading, Acetate decomposition level
    • Number of splices (Splicer tapes the headers and trailers to the film: it's a count for how many times the film has been manifested).
      
• Viewing the films
  • When viewing the films, the collector should write cataloging and holding records (on paper or in a computer system)
    • For professional film archival, cataloging records are described at AACR2 Third level
      • AACR2 for films (MARC):
      • The original work is the basis for cataloging all subsequent manifestation of that work.
      • Multiple formats are included on one record (Multiple formats in the 300 fields)
      • Re-release & re-issues are combined on same bibliographic record (Copyright, inspection, techniques, associated materials, abstract in 500 fields)
      • Multiple Subjects & Geographical Locations (See Getty Vocabulary, NARA Authority Files)
      • Additional Elements describing audiovisual items (See NARA)

• Prepare for Manifest
  • Before manifest, headers and trailers are added to the film. The film is put on an archival core, and placed in an archival can. Archival cans and cores made of an inert plastic that will not chemically react with the film. Archival metal cans are coated with an inert coating that is additionally rustproof.
  • Video Transfers
    • (Digitized file - AVI, MP4, MOV, WMV:  Watching Movies on Mobile Devices - Tablets)
    • (Betacam, VHS, CD, VCD, DVD copies:  Watching Movies on VCD/DVD players)
    • The primary benefit of having film transferred to videotape is that video allows convenient access to the films without subjecting the originals to any potential damage.
       
• Digital preservation
  • Shifting Costs
    • When adding an item to the collection, one of the important factors is to consider the cost, not only the cost to purchase the item, but also the cost to preserve the item.  Depending on the production budget, the films today are likely made with high quality films that will last over hundreds of years.  Digitalizing and preserving these films adds considerable costs to the library budget.
  • Digital Media is highly dependent on devices/readers/software/operating systems
    • New devices, hardware and software are replaced on a cycle of 2 to 5 years
    • Many of the new digital media are machine dependent. They require a particular operating system, availability of the reader and specific software to access these records. The retention of obsolete equipment and software has maintenance and upkeep costs.
  • Digital Copy
    • From floppy disks to CD-ROMs and DVDs, to today's the most widely known forms of data storage are magnetic disk, RAID, Tape, and Optical disk. Magnetic disk, RAID, and Tape technology are not ideal for long-term archiving because the data is vulnerable to tampering or damage, either by mistake or deliberately.
    • Optical disks, such CDs and DVDs, on the other hand, are more suited for permanent storage.
  • Data Migration
    • Migration is a process of transferring digital resources from one generation to a subsequent generation to avoid the necessity of keeping and maintaining obsolete equipment and technology. However, this transfer from one carrier to another may cause data loss; in addition, the data may be altered to correspond to the system design in the process. It raises a number of issues such as copyright, authenticity, and reliability.
    • Migration is time-consuming process; it is costly and much more complex than simple refreshing. In the migration process, keeping the integrity of digital objects becomes a critical issue.
  • Metadata Standards
    • Metadata standards are needed to provide sufficient descriptive and technical information about the digital resources. The properly used metadata facilitate the long-term access by providing information on the software and hardware environment of the original digital resources. (See Dublin Core: simple objects, METS Metadata Schema: complex objects)
  • Information Policy
    • Information Policy is driving by many factors: Community Analysis, Needs Assessments, and Open Communication between various stakeholders.
      
• Film Access
  • Off-site Usage
  • In Library Usage
  • Consultation and Reference Usage
  • Resource Sharing (Interlibrary Loan)

• Collection maintenance
  • User copy will be shelved in the temporary storage space for public access.
  • The master print will be stored in the permanent storage space.
    • The best storage for motion picture film includes appropriate temperature and humidity conditions and good-quality storage enclosures. Cold and dry are the best conditions for the storage of film. Under the cold storage conditions of 40 degrees and 50% relative humidity, vinegar syndrome does not begin for 350 years. A relative humidity (RH) of 20 to 50% is best for film storage, with a temperature that is as cool as possible.

Preservation vs. Access

There is a delicate balance in ensuring the materials will be preserved over time while granting access to the public at the same time. Multimedia materials are much more expensive than other type of media materials, it's expensive to make, produce, and reproduce over time.  Access adds wear and tear to the collection. Preservation staff sets up guideline and collaborate with the collection access staffs to minimize the damages to the collection.

Disaster prevention and recovery

To plan a disaster prevention and recovery program, the first thing is to set priority on what to save, and whom to contact. After that, it is a matter of following procedures in responding to the disaster (water, temperature, air, electrical, transporting, and other unforeseeable damage to the materials).

Finally, here are some of the important questions to ask for any collection management:

Who are our audiences?
What are they using the collection for?
Where are they?
Where are they accessing the collection information?
How are we currently delivering the service?
How can we improve our service?

Memo:

It's important to point out the difference between the Original Film vs. Manifested Digital Copy, as one might be selecting CD, VCD, DVD Multimedia Authorizing Tools.

This quick write-up is primarily focused on Film Archives.  The following are some of the links for interested parties, by no means they are exclusive.  I have very-limited knowledge in Film Making or Film Archiving.  I had a very-brief opportunity in the past handling film materials, describing film records (project-based).  However, I had quite extensive personal experience (non-commerce-related; this is a hobby site) in digitalization (conversion of audio-video tapes, authorizing CDs, VCDs, and DVDs, storing music/video clips in mobile devices, as well as back-up digital files in CDs/DVDs).

Film Archive Education:

UCLA Film and Television Archives: Events
https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events

The UCLA Film & TV Internship Program
http://legacy.tft.ucla.edu/internships/

UCLA's Department of Film, Television and Digital Media
http://www.tft.ucla.edu/programs/film-tv-digital-media-department/
http://www.tft.ucla.edu/programs/film-tv-digital-media-department/undergraduate-degrees/ba-undergraduate-film/

UCLA Film & Television Archive
https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/education/archive-research-study-center-arsc
https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/education/research-links

Film Archive Organization:

The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA)
http://www.amianet.org/

Film Forever
http://www.filmforever.org/

British Film Institute (BFI)
http://www.bfi.org.uk/

Australian Centre for Moving Images (ACMI)
https://www.acmi.net.au/

The National Film Preservation Foundation
http://www.filmpreservation.org/

Internet Archives: Movies
https://archive.org/details/movies

Other Film Related Archive Organization:

NARA: National Archives and Records Administration (Specific media types)
http://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/lcdrg/
http://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/lcdrg/toc.html
http://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/lcdrg/authority_lists/index.html

The Getty Research Institute (Getty Vocabulary)
http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/

LC: Library of Congress (Authority files)
http://authorities.loc.gov/

LC: Library of Congress (Subject headings)
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html

Dublin Core (Metadata Standards)
http://dublincore.org/

Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (Version 1.1)
http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/

Dublin Core Schema
http://dublincore.org/schemas/xmls/

VRA (Visual Resource Association)
http://vraweb.org/

METS (Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard)
http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/

Creative Commons
https://creativecommons.org/

From This site:

Links to personal/home/online multimedia tools

Links to multimedia types

Links to Watching Movies on Mobile Devices (Tablet)

Links to other Site Tools