This workshop will provide a practical introduction to the assessment of analog audiovisual material in archives, with a focus on the kinds of knowledge one can glean from looking closely at archival media objects, and how to use that knowledge to prioritize archival AV material for preservation. 

Geared towards archival workers who encounter analog media in collections in their day to day work, the workshop will consist of illustrated lectures on these obsolete media technologies designed to help participants understand their holdings and make decisions about them. Participants will have a chance to apply course concepts with virtual media triage activities based on digital images. The final section of the workshop will consider prioritization for preservation, and will introduce some tools and methods currently in use for collecting data about AV media to support preservation.

By the end of the workshop, participants should understand what can be learned about AV media from a visual assessment, how to use that knowledge to document collection materials, and how to find and use data collection tools tools designed to support AV assessment for preservation.  

Learning objectives:

• Understand the range of formats and content types of AV and what to look for to identify them
• Understand categories and characteristics of analog audiovisual media that contribute to its quality, type of content, and preservation risk.
• Learn some of the terminology associated with obsolete media technologies
• Become familiar with some tools designed to document and manage archival AV media

This workshop will be recorded and available after the live event.

Instructor bio:
Megan McShea (she/her) is an independent archivist based in Baltimore, MD. Current projects focus on archival processing, metadata, photo and video digitization, digital asset management, digital preservation, and workflow development. She has taught workshops on archival processing, archival description, and working with audiovisual materials through SAA, AMIA, and the Community Archives Program at the University of Baltimore. Prior to working independently, she was the first Audiovisual Archivist at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, where she developed practices in a manuscript repository setting around audiovisual collection management, processing, digitization, and preservation. She holds an MLS from the University of Maryland, College Park and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.