RISD Archives Magnetic Media at Risk | LORI Grant Funded Digital Preservation Project

RISD Archives Magnetic Media at Risk | LORI Grant Funded Digital Preservation Project

The RISD Archives, which is part of Fleet Library, owns more than 2000 time-based, magnetic media tapes (such as betamax, U-matic, and VHS) that are beginning to self-destruct and the recordings are at risk of being lost forever. Starting in Summer 2021, a cross-operational team from the library has been running a pilot with digitization specialists The MediaPreserve to digitize around 300 of these tapes. The process recovers the content and preserves it in a digital format that can be viewed online for years to come. This pilot batch of tapes includes 68 recordings of research studies and presentations related to the Universal Kitchen project (1990s), which had a major impact on how designers address accessibility and universal design issues. In addition, we are digitizing recordings of academic lectures and institutional events from the 1980s and 1990s that brought major artists, designers, writers, and thinkers of that period to campus. These recordings are being made widely available for the first time to the RISD community and to the world.

Project Team:

Emily Begin, Digital Production and Cataloging Specialist

Soul Brown, Director of Research

Douglas Doe, Digital Archivist

Margaret Lindon, Project Assistant

Andrew Martinez, Archivist

Margot McIlwain Nishimura, Dean of Libraries (Project Director)

Mark Pompelia, Visual + Material Resources Librarian