Thank you Chris for telling everybody about AMIA! If anyone of you notice, the signature of all my emails has links to AMIA because I think it is one of the most important organizations in our field -- for A-V people even more so than ALA. Simply, if you are holding audio-visual materials and you are concerned about having them still available for the next generation of professors and students, you are also an archive.
There are two other important things to note about AMIA. *Anyone* can join and you are as welcomed and respected as the studio archivist, lab technician, AV librarian, professor or (god help us) distributor sitting next to you. AMIA is based on individual memberships so there is no power structure other than those who are willing to volunteer their time and effort. And the Board of Directors is aimed towards representing every aspect of the membership. The second thing is that we have a program specifically in mind for everyone struggling to become an archivist in the digital age and it may be the most vital program you attend. It's called "Digital Assets Symposium" and the next one is going to be held May 15-16 in Los Angeles. You can find information about it here <http://www.digitalassetsymposium.com/> -- the website just went up this week. Tom Regal programs it and I have enormous respect for the work he does. It's not theory. It's people from tiny to huge organizations giving you case studies of what they are doing and what is working (or not working) for them. If you want to attend and need cheap hotels in the area, I can help and so can the AMIA office. We also have a pretty cool academic journal that really is amazingly entertaining to read. Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video PO Box 128 / Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 / Fax: 201-767-3035 / Email: [email protected] Visit our main website! www.milestonefilms.com Visit our new websites! www.mspresents.com, www.portraitofjason.com, www.shirleyclarkefilms.com, To see or download our 2014 Video Catalog, click here<http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0150/7896/files/2014MilestoneVideoCatalog.pdf?75> ! Support "Milestone Film" on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milestone-Film/22348485426> and Twitter <https://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms>! See the website: Association of Moving Image Archivists<http://www.amianet.org/> and like them on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Moving-Image-Archivists/86854559717> AMIA 2014 Conference, Savannah, Georgia, October 8-11, 2014<http://www.amianet.org/> On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 1:55 PM, Chris Lewis <[email protected]> wrote: > It's a given that most of us on this list are sitting on substantial > collections of VHS tapes. Thanks to the efforts of Howard Besser, Walter > Forsberg, and others it has become evident just how endangered those > collections are and the proportion of VHS content that is irreplaceable. > > It seems that there are a few directions one can go with this situation. > Some have taken to discarding their VHS collections. Others have shipped > them to offsite storage or otherwise shunted them aside and are passively > letting time takes its toll as they gradually disintegrate into bits. > Another approach is to develop a plan to digitize the content and protect > it for future use. > > Getting started with a preservation program need not be an overwhelming > thought. This is where I think it's worth considering joining the > Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA). As their name suggests they > are a group dedicated to the preservation of moving image media, both film > and video, and whereby film preservation might have once seemed like a > niche field the rapid growth of VHS collections coupled with the > instability of the media and the disappearance of VHS players suggest to me > that having a little bit of video preservation know-how on staff is > essential for almost any library (especially academic libraries). > > AMIA is a great organization to be a part of when learning the nuts and > bolts of archival video preservation. Their members come from a wide range > of areas and are a good group to network with to gain technical knowledge. > The most important event on the AMIA calendar is their annual conference. > This year they will meet in Savannah, GA October 8-11. One month before the > National Media Market. They also have a newsletter and an active blog. > > Annual membership dues are: > $110 individual > $60 student > $300 non-profit institutional > $600 for-profit institutional > > I don't mean to bend your ear too much so here are the links to learn more > about the organization and the conference. > > http://www.amianet.org > http://www.amiaconference.com/ > > -- > Chris Lewis American University Library 202.885.3257 > > > > > > > > > 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.
