This report summarises the preservation status of European audiovisual material. The report is compiled from direct contact with 20 audiovisual collections of various sizes in 11 EC countries - and public data from a further 10 countries.

This is the second annual report on the preservation status of European audiovisual material. The report is compiled from direct contact with nearly 400 audiovisual collections of various sizes in 34 European countries. The emphasis is on preservation awareness and preparedness – and how much training needs to be done.

This is the third annual report on the preservation status of European audiovisual material. The report gives information on the cost of digitisation, and the cost of the ‘digital preservation’ of the results of digitisation. The report also reviews current information on the value of audiovisual content, and concludes with updates on archive access and on European political and commercial developments

This paper is a resource for those who are making a policy case for digital archives, for digitisation programmes or for projects designed to exploit the corresponding digital content. It sets out, in a schematic way, arguments that have been rehearsed in recent years to support the case for more investment in these areas, covering the nature of the case to be made, the concepts of market failure, contingent valuation, public value and the internal business case. Summaries are given of the main policy developments in the area at an EU level and of some prominent case studies. A core theme throughout the paper is the need to articulate a more specific (and preferably quantitative) justification for investment in Digital Archives.

A light-hearted scenario on a serious subject. A damsel in distress (or 'audioviusal archivist in agony and anxiety') would be in peril of losing her audiovisual content owing to deterioration (of the media, not the damsel) or obsolescence (of the formats, not the damsel). In addition, much of the content was too fragile to be handed directly to the public - and so the collection had poor access. In fact, there was a crisis - get the collection known, used and preserved - or get out of town!

Activities in relating to audiovisual cultural heritage: Europan funding and projects; Professional Bodies; NGOs; EC Projects; UK Projects; JISC digitisation projects; acronyms

The motivation for the factory approach to preservation is to minimise loss. In most situations the resources are inadequate to the task. There is a shortage of time, money, training and equipment. This necessitates deciding on the most effective means for dealing with the overall content of collections, rather than prceeding item-by-item. The factory approach is about increasing throughput by taking a systematic approach to the whole problem, and putting resources where they give the best return.

For audiovisual materials, preservation is maintenance. Using the word maintenance promotes the idea that preservation activity must be performed, funded and included in the standing maintenance functions of any organisation responsible for audiovisual material. Organisations that don't maintain their assets - that don't preserve their audiovisual content - are simply not being responsible.

See ALL the PrestoSpace technology, from new machines for audio, video, and film digitisation, to the Turnkey System for hosting your own Digital Audiovisual Archive. More than 10 different demonstrations will run simultaneously presenting the PrestoSpace technology including audio, film and video scanning tools, to tools, guidelines, and services to manage the migration process and the storage, to audio, video, and film restoration tools, and eventually the Publication Platform and the Turnkey System to give access to audiovisual contents.

Proper understanding of the significant properties of digital objects is critical to establish best practices and helps answer the fundamental question related to digital preservation: what to preserve? JISC, the British Library and the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) are organising a joint workshop bring together the relevant projects and report on progress to date.

Information on some of the most common audio and video formats found in European archives, including what they look like, when they were made, who they were made by, what equipment is needed to play them, what problems might be encountered, and links to further information.