Stewarding NYPL’s Audio and Moving Image Collections into the Future Ann Thornton and Evelyn Frangakis CNI Fall Meeting December 9, 2014

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Now We Know NYPL has one of the largest and most significant AMI collections in the worId The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded a comprehensive assessment of this collection’s physical state, storage conditions, cataloging needs, and preservation needs The data-driven assessment identified the scale and scope of the challenge and outlined strategies by which to address it As a result, NYPL is developing a systematic and integrated approach to preserve the most essential material

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Where We Started Elevated profile of Library’s AMI collections in 2010 Ticking Clock: identified AMI as an at-risk collection Wanted to be proactive; began talking with the Mellon Foundation

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Building an Integrated Internal Program Historical lab investment in three curatorial units Many needs across Library not being addressed Reorganization consolidated labs into single unit to serve entire institution Technical specialists reporting to Library’s central preservation program Turned individual labs into a team IMLS Fellows rotated through labs

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Environmental Scan and Partnerships Investigated other institutions’ approaches Modeled our approach to Indiana’s Allowed us to beta test MediaScore Modeled executive sponsorship, AMI Working Group, guiding principles, and project management BROAD involvement across NYPL with multiple curatorial, administrative, technical, and IT units

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Mellon-Funded Assessment Ambitious 12-month time frame Chose AVPreserve as contract partner Phase 1: Surveyed curators, individual physical formats, and spaces Generated format-level inventory of all AMI materials Phase 2: Analyzed data and developed recommendations Phase 3: Assessed facilities, equipment, and workflows

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections MediaScore

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Labor Hours

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Life-cycle Costs

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Findings - Collections Over 800,000 AMI items in 9 curatorial units across 3 of NYPL’s research libraries 60 formats 4 asset types 1/3 of collection determined high priority for preservation (unique, rare, mission critical) Cost of inaction

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Cost of Inaction (CoI) CoI is a model aimed at helping organizations make well- informed decisions regarding digitization of legacy physical AMI media and also understanding implications of their options To date there has been no consistent way for organizations to quantify the financial and intellectual cost of inaction (to supplement traditional arguments and bridge communication gaps between caretakers and budget holders) Cost of Inaction addresses issue and offers platform to enable productive discussion and decision making

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Recommendations Scenarios developed for status quo, increased outsourcing, fixed budget, and no loss Considered 15-year window of opportunity Scenarios included costs for: reformatting, cataloging, physical storage, and digital storage Recommendations made for policy changes in acquisitions and life-cycle management

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Immediate Next Steps Reallocated vacant positions to create head of digital preservation, head of AMI lab, audio engineer position, cataloging/processing positions Further centralized processing staff to maximize capacity Still to come: further curatorial engagement for deeper prioritization to ensure that collections that need reformatting get into the workflow Developing focused fundraising strategy

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections Sharing Approaches and Progress The tools and methods used for and refined during project can assist other institutions in addressing common needs for AMI collection life-cycle management and preservation NYPL’s summary report is online NYPL will continue to share its progress through: and

Stewarding NYPL’s AMI Collections From Preservation Week Years of Bizet’s Habanera in one Stunning Rendition