Thanks for this reply Dennis and this question Jeanne. This is slightly outside the scope of your question, but I am in a similar situation with some unique ethnographic 8mm and Super8 films. About 16-20 of them each documenting different performances of music groups. They certainly fit Dennis's criteria.
I'm worried simply about cleaning and preserving them, not to mention figuring out a way to transfer to digital. Need to find someone who may have the equipment to do that. U-Indiana was funded for the EVIA documentation project but they didn't have access to 8mm-type transfer equipment. A bit outside the scope of their grant. If anyone knows a vendor in Midwest I'd appreciate the tip. Randal Baier ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Doros" <milefi...@gmail.com> To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 10:23:21 AM Subject: Re: [Videolib] Conversion of 8mm. 16mm, beta and 3/4" umatic titles Dear Jeanne, Technically, the second provision is that the original materials must be endangered, but there's really several other questions involved. 1) What is the nature of the material? Is it educational or feature films? Or is it of a local-based nature? 2) And wearing my AMIA hat (Association of Moving Image Archivists)... Are they singular and unique? If they are one-of-a-kind, to throw out the materials after duping is an "original" sin. If they are of local origin, they should be kept either by the university or local historical societies. DVDs are not permanent. One scratch on the disc and the film or video can be gone forever. I've just experienced a tragic example of this from one of my producers where they threw out an original film negative because they have a digibeta master. Another example is the New York Public Library whose 16mm prints that they purchased years ago are now are the only copies of important films in existence. 3) Are those films available in the same format you have but just not on VHS or DVD? And if they are feature films, you'd probably need to do another sweep. There is an incredible amount of films being released each year. The quality would be greatly superior and the cost is pretty negligible. If they're educational films, as Gary points out, sadly there's less and less available from back catalogs and preserving them properly can certainly be a mitzvah. Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 Fax: 201-767-3035 email: milefi...@gmail.com www.milestonefilms.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com www.arayafilm.com www.exilesfilm.com www.wordisoutmovie.com www.killerofsheep.com AMIA Austin 2011: www.amianet.org Join "Milestone Film" on Facebook! Follow Milestone on Twitter! On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 10:08 AM, Jeanne Little < jeanne.lit...@uni.edu > wrote: Hello, All. Our library received a fairly large number of 8mm and 16mm films, along with some beta and 3/4" umatic videos. I have done a sweep of these some time ago to try to locate vhs or dvd formats to purchase. My question has to do with those I could not locate in another format to purchase. Can we make dvd copies of these titles under Section 108, in either the Preservation or Replacement sections? I understand that if we can make copies, the copies cannot circulate, but must be in-library use only. Are there other restrictions involved? Must we retain the original formats if copies are made? If so, why? Is there somewhere these older formats could be sent so we don't just end up tossing them? (The cost of shipping may be prohibitive, given the weight of some of these films). What have others done with these types of formats? We are getting tight on space and some decisions will have to be made regarding these older formats in the near future. Thanks for any and all responses, they are very much appreciated! Jeanne Little Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors. VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
