Rich, It's unlikely you'll find a single vendor to work with for all those formats. Digitizing audio and video media is highly specialized work, because for some obsolete formats the equipment to play back the media may not be manufactured any more, so vendors must scavenge and maintain such equipment. Pricing varies widely based on format, condition, duration of media, and quantity. You're right that some A/V, depending on age and storage conditions, will require remedial reconditioning prior to playback/digitization. You'll have to secure quotes specific to your situation. One of the best in the business is George Blood A/V in Philadelphia. Another is MediaPreserve outside Pittsburgh.
The same is true for texts and photos; pricing will vary based on size, condition, quantity. We go through Internet Archive for all such materials. They're non-profit, based in San Francisco but with digitization centers around the US and beyond. Their mission is to make materials openly available online, so if your texts and photos are in the public domain or you have appropriate permissions, I suggest checking with them. In fact you may want to check with them regardless of copyright status, as they may have other options for such materials. A reputable vendor that also has a social justice component is Digital Divide Data. Best of luck, Greg Gregory Murray Director of Digital Initiatives Princeton Theological Seminary Library On 8/5/19, 9:10 AM, "Code for Libraries on behalf of Rich Kulawiec" <[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]> wrote: I'm trying to put together a cost estimate for vendor digitization of a large number of (a) paper documents of varying sizes (b) photos - color and b/w (c) videos - on VHS, Beta, etc. (d) films - mostly 8mm (e) audio recordings - cassettes and reel-to-reel. I've gotten far enough along to realize that consumer prices for small quantities probably aren't a good metric, and that there will be a sharp difference between "routine" scanning of materials that are well-preserved and "remedial" scanning of materials that will require special attention. But I'm struggling to find pricing for large quantities, e.g., 20,000 pages of printed newsletters or 5,000 photos or 300 cassettes. I'm hoping that others who've traveled this road recently can provide some guidance on what vendors are likely to charge. Thanks, Rich
