17 Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative:
Saving precious recordings
Indiana University holds large numbers of audio, video, and film recordings with high research and instructional value. As IU neared its bicentennial, many were on obsolete formats that were degrading and would have been lost forever had we not digitized them.
Announced by IU President Michael A. McRobbie in 2013, the Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative was charged with digitally preserving and providing access to all significant audio, video, and film recordings on all IU campuses.
Since then, more than 350,000 audio and video items and film reels have been preserved through our unique partnership with Memnon Archiving Services, a Sony company.
IU has preserved:
- Audio recordings of Orson Welles radio broadcasts from 600 lacquer disks
- 276 wax cylinder recordings of Native American languages and music
- 184 open-reel audio recordings of “The Afro-American in Indiana” radio show
|
Videotapes (Open reel, VHS, Beta, Umatic, DV)
|
92,341
|
|
Vinyl records (LP, 45, 78)
|
77,333
|
|
Films
|
23,650
|
|
CD-Rs and DVDs
|
17,030
|
|
Lacquer, aluminum, and other audio discs
|
7,759
|
|
Wax cylinders
|
6,643
|
|
2″ videotapes
|
185
|
|
Magnabelts
|
36
|
MDPI was a massive group effort with dedicated funding from all over the university including the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and the Office of the Vice President for Research. Additional funding and
in-kind contributions came from the IU Libraries, UITS, and various media-holding units.
The result of this work is that IU is a world leader in media preservation. Researchers and community members today and well into the future now have online access to IU’s many precious artifacts.