Audio, Video and Film




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Audiovisual Preservation
A library is more than a collection of books, documents, photographs, and online resources. It can also hold an astonishing variety of audiovisual media that documents our shared cultural heritage on film, video and sound recordings. From oral histories to home movies and beyond, these AV materials exist in many formats which unfortunately are facing loss and obsolescence today. While their content remains more significant than ever, revealing our past in intimate and vivid picture or sound, analog formats are at risk of deterioration and content loss because of their physical composition and age. The playback equipment originally manufactured to play these formats are no longer in production, increasingly rare, and must be carefully maintained.
Our AV Preservation staff works closely and collaboratively with library-wide partners towards a shared mission: Caring for our rich audiovisual heritage and ensuring its accessibility for students, instructors, researchers and users of every variety sustainably into the future.
Services Offered
To help preserve the moving image and recorded sound in UCLA Library's collections, we offer our partners a variety of services including:
- Digitization of legacy formats
- Consultation and assessment
- Archival rehousal for long-term storage
- Workflow development and training
- Collaboration for community outreach, grants and special projects
Formats
Currently, we have capacity to digitize the following formats in-house. Formats not listed are outsourced to trusted vendors and we manage all aspects of prep, shipping and QC.
AUDIO
1/4 inch open-reel audio
Audiocassette
Microcassette
Grooved media (LP, 78s, Lacquer discs)
DAT
FILM
8mm/Super 8/16mm
Optical and mag soundtrack
VIDEO
1/2 inch open reel video
Betacam SP
Betamax
DVCam/MiniDV
Hi8
MiniDisc
VHS, S-VHS and VHS-C
U-matic