Analog Videotape Preservation Best Practices and Options Workshop

This workshop will cover specific examples of collaborative tools, spaces and workflows with a focus on the open source community and ethos. it will give an overview of the various tools and open projects that are available to aid institutions getting started with A/V Preservation. Specifically, MIPoPS Co-Executive-Director Libby Hopfauf will cover the unique qualities, risk factors, transfer tools, and preservation workflows for some of the most common formats found in archives: VHS, DV, 3/4" U-matic, and Betacam. Hopfauf will cover tools and techniques to preserve each of these formats based on their distinct needs and characteristics.

Participants will leave this workshop with an intellectual understanding of videotape formats commonly found in archival collections. They will receive information and resources for further study and education, as well as practical examples for using simple techniques and tools to provide access to their collections, and an understanding of options for digitization, analog and digital preservation. They will also learn how to gather information to communicate with vendors and advocate for funding via grants or institutional buy-in.

Instructor: Libby Savage Hopfauf is the Co-Executive Director at Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound and Audiovisual Archivist at Seattle Municipal Archives, in Seattle, Washington (working for both organizations since 2015). She received a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington and a BA in creative writing with a minor in sociology from Western Washington University.