1. Dancers and Digital Preservation: Involving Dance Students in the Digitization of Archival Performance Videos
Brianna Gormly
Digital Initiatives Librarian
Archives and Special Collections
Franklin and Marshall College
My presentation is about a project engaging students in the preservation of college records.
Specifically, this is a project I started with professors of Dance in which students can earn hours toward required technical crew work for course and degree requirements through digitizing performance videos in the College Archives.

2. Digital Preservation at F&M
Communicating digital preservation issues to stakeholders
Original student work is a preservation priority
Over the past year, I worked to educate stakeholders on campus about digital preservation issues. The scope of these presentations was broad, from managing born-digital records created now to migrating records on older media that are becoming inaccessible due to issues of obsolescence. A professor of Dance attended one of these presentations and was interested in what I had to say.
Dance performance videos held in the College Archives are a record of the creative work of the department and a resource for students and alumni.

3. Problem #1
Problem: F&M student performance videos recorded on VHS and DVD are at risk for deterioration and obsolescence.
Solution: Dance students can earn required tech hours by digitizing F&M Dance performance videos.
We started with this problem: F&M student performance videos recorded on VHS and DVD are at risk for deterioration and obsolescence. (For more information on preservation issues see: Association of Moving Image Archivists, n.d.; Iraci, 2010; and Bogart, 1995).
Starting in the spring 2017 semester, Dance faculty have allowed student to complete required tech hours by digitizing performance videos in the College archives. Dance majors/minors must complete tech hours toward their degrees, and students in the Dance Production Ensemble course must complete tech hours to fulfill course requirements.

4. Problem #2
Problem: How can I create a workflow that is easy to use with minimal training?
Solution: Look to personal digital archiving labs in public libraries.
Unlike student digitization assistants who work in Archives and Special Collections for a semester or more, these students might need only a few sessions to complete their tech hours. How can we create a workflow that is easy to use with minimal training?
I looked to the work of public libraries who have created personal digital archiving labs meant to be useable by patrons with little to no technical skills. For an example, see DC Public Library’s Memory Lab ( I have included all of the workflow documentation that informed the F&M Dance Videos Digitization project in my references (see the Workflow Resources section).

5. F&M Dance Videos Digitization Project
Students sign up for 2-hour time slots which is enough time to set-up, digitize a VHS performance video, and encode an MP4 access copy from the uncompressed file. While the VHS is running, the students work on DVDs at a second computer, creating MP4 access copies and ISO disc images.
The project has now continued into a second semester. Students have digitized about a third of dance performances on VHS (21 of 62 tapes) and about half of the DVDs (43 total).

6. Outcomes and Lessons Learned
Continuing the discussion on digital preservation issues
Connecting the Archives to the curriculum in a new way
Always have extra players
As video digitization has been using an increasing amount of storage on a local server, it has led to planning for a more sustainable digital storage solution for the Archives. We are looking toward setting up AWS storage later this semester.
Possibly the most interesting outcome of this project was the chance to connect digital preservation to our mission as a teaching library.
When working with older VHS tapes, always have extra players.

7. Acknowledgements
Thank you to the F&M Theater, Dance, and Film Department, especially professors of Dance: Lynn Brooks, Pamela Vail, and Jennifer Conley.
Contact Information
Brianna Gormly

8. Bibliography Preservation Resources
Association of Moving Image Archivists. (n.d.). Videotape Preservation Fact Sheets. Retrieved from
Iraci, Joe. (2010). Longevity of Recordable CDs and DVDs- Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) Notes 19/1. Retrieved from institute/services/conservation-preservation- publications/canadian-conservation-institute- notes/longevity-recordable-cds-dvds.html
Schumacher, J., Thomas, L., VandeCreek, D., Erdman, S., Hancks, J., Haykal, A., … Spalenka, D. (2014). From Theory to action: “Good enough” digital preservation solutions for under-resourced cultural heritage institutions. Retrieved from

9. Van Bogart, J. W. C. (1995). Magnetic tape storage and handling: A guide for libraries and archives. Retrieved from
Workflow Resources
Blewer, A. (n.d.). Minimum Viable Station. Retrieved from xYOM0uijDqyNStuwjtZ23yMRkGw/edit
DC Public Library. (September 11, 2017). Memory Lab. Retrieved from
Lewis, C. & Hubbs, M. (November 2016). DIY VHS preservation: Planning for video digitization at the American University Library. Computers in Libraries, 36(9),

10. New York Public Library. (August 15, 2017)
New York Public Library. (August 15, 2017). AMI Digital Asset Technical Specifications. Retrieved from video
Salo, D. (n.d.). RADD: Recovering Analog and Digital Data. Retrieved from
Vancouver Public Library. (n.d.). Inspiration Lab— Digitization. Retrieved from
Images
Photographs by Brianna Gormly