Sound Savings: Preserving Audio Collections
OVER THE PAST DECADE there has been a growing interest in the preservation needs of
sound recordings and other nonprint media. In March 2002, “Redefining Preserva-
tion, Shaping New Solutions, Forging New Partnerships,” a conference sponsored
by the University of Michigan University Library and the Association of Research
Libraries (ARL), put audiovisual preservation high on the list of important issues
for the preservation community. A year later, many of the key stakeholders in audio-
visual preservation met to share their experiences and discuss the challenges ahead,
specifically in the area of preserving sound recordings.
“Sound Savings: Preserving Audio Collections,” held at the University of Texas
at Austin in July 2003, was cosponsored by the School of Information’s Preservation
and Conservation Studies at the University of Texas at Austin; the Library of Con-
gress; the National Recording Preservation Board; and the Association of Research
Libraries. The two-and-a-half day program featured talks by experts on topics
ranging from assessing the preservation needs of audio collections to creating,
preserving, and making publicly available digitally reformatted audio recordings.
As Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa and Mark Roosa noted in their introductory re-
marks, the symposium brought together an esteemed group of curators, educators,
scholars, and practitioners whose papers
“represent the fruit of their individual and collective experiences and, as they reveal, institutions are actively involved in all aspects of audio preservation. But there remains serious work ahead.”
The final session of “Sound Savings” focused on shaping an applied research and
education agenda. Seven steps were defined to move forward; the challenge will be
articulating strategies to reach these goals. ARL hopes, by publishing the many out-
standing papers presented at the symposium, to advance this agenda. The time has
come to expand our present knowledge and work together to meet the challenges of
preserving our valuable collections of recorded sound.
