PARADISEC Workflow - University of Melbourne

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PARADISEC-reel-to-reel

Last updated: 21 July 2022

For questions or comments on this document please contact us at admin@paradisec.org.au, or write to us at:

PARADISEC
Sydney Conservatorium of Music, C41
University of Sydney, 2006
Ph: +61 2 9351 1279, Fax: +61 2 9351 1287

University of Melbourne ingestion unit

Assess collection (Admin and PD)

Assess whether material is suitable for accession (PD in consultation with steering committee). Suitability should consider the following conditions, though materials not meeting these criteria are not necessarily excluded from the collection:

Rights
Does the depositor assert ownership of the material?

Are the rights in the material clearly specified?
Content criteria (assess against policy)
- is the material unique?
- is the country and language of the material known, and in the core area (non-Australian)?
- is there an alternative place for deposit of the recording?
- is the content of the recording in a high-risk language?
- is the format or recording medium at high-risk of obsolescence?
- institutional affiliation – give preference to consortium members
- ease of integration into our systems
  - is data in a format we can handle (i.e. cassette, 1/4 inch reels)?
  - if not, direct prospective depositor to suitable alternative facility
- consistency and adequacy of any metadata

If collection assessed as suitable, create a collection record in Nabu Assess tape condition and prepare material for transportation accordingly

Transportation

If the recordings are in bad condition (e.g. mould, rare formats, tape visibly damaged) send to Sydney (contact Admin). Transport any mouldy items in separate ziplock bags and do not pack with non-mouldy items

If in reasonable condition transport to nearest ingestion point, personal transport is preferable; transport in hand luggage if flying, if necessary use registered courier

Packing – make sure end fastened on reel tape, pack tightly, wrap in bubble wrap
Ensure against unnecessary shocks during transport
Transport with inventory of contents

Receipt of materials at ingestion point (Admin)

Check inventory against contents and contact depositor if any discrepancy
Enter date in ‘data received’ field of Nabu
Assess whether mould-affected and if so implement appropriate procedure (put in ziplock bags and store in cleaning room)

Metadata

Where possible get depositors to enter own metadata in Nabu:

User signs up to Nabu, creating a login
Admin or PD assigns edit access to user

Assign Persistent Identifier (PI) – if depositor already has a consistent naming system, use it, or else use numerical symbols for ‘item ID’, e.g. 001

Where depositor cannot enter own metadata, enter records manually or batch import records from a spreadsheet

For batch import of new records: ensure all metadata is inserted into the PARADISEC basic metadata import spreadsheet located at http://www.paradisec.org.au/downloads.html{:target=”_blank”} (only those fields listed in the spreadsheet can be imported, and no changes should be made to fields or headings in the spreadsheet, metadata should only be added to existing fields)
- Open Nabu and click on the Dashboard tab
- Click on ‘Upload metadata file’ button
- Browse to location of file
- Click on ‘Add Collection from Spreadsheet XLS file’
For manual entry of new records:
- Create item records (Admin) by adding item IDs and descriptions into the Collection screen
- Enter all metadata available into appropriate fields of catalogue, ensuring that all compulsory fields (marked with a red asterisk) have been filled

Label all tapes and tape cases to show PI, ensuring that no written information is covered up

Sort all tapes in numerical order in filing cabinet, or in dirty room if mould-affected

When tapes returned, note date in ‘tracking’ field of Item, Archive Information and tick ‘Tapes returned to depositor’ checkbox

Photograph tape covers and casings to capture all handwritten metadata

Image files should be named with the same PI as the audio files
Archival copies of images should be in tiff (.tif) format, jpeg (.jpg) copies can be archived as additional access copies
The whole image should be captured, but in some cases it might be desirable to zoom in to the text to make sure it is fully legible in an additional image
Even blank surfaces should be photographed to ensure that no metadata has been overlooked
Include a ruler in the captured image to indicate scale
See the Appendix at the end of this document on guidelines for image capture and also the Austehc image capture guidelines in the 2011 PARADISEC Operations Manual for more details

Prepare tapes for ingestion (Audio)

Assess tape condition – treat mouldy items according to the below procedure (wear a mask and latex gloves as protective gear)
Dehumidify in vacuum oven if necessary, with separate batches for mould-affected items
If necessary, advice regarding duration of treatment and temperature can be found at NFSA and also within the IASA TC-04 Guidelines
If mouldy remove any visible growths first with cotton bud or pad and solution of isopropyl and cetramide
If sticky shed is present no special prior treatment is needed
Clean and prepare for ingestion

Reel-to-reel

Repair or replace lead tape and damaged splices if necessary
Clean using slow spool and specialist equipment (cotton pads and isopropyl/cetramide solution); also clean flange (spool) separately
Perform a second slow spool to repack tape

Cassette

Replace splices if necessary (cassette)
Fast forward and rewind to minimise print-through (cassette) and to repack tape (cassette and DAT)
If mouldy, bag up separately, to avoid cross-contamination, shelve in PARADISEC’s Dirty Room and minimise time in Ingestion Room, replay on designated dirty cassette machine

Information on devices and servicing

Format	Device	Date last tested
Cassette	TASCAM 122 Mk II	July 2014
Mouldy cassette	Yamaha KX-W32	July 2014
Reel-to-reel 15 ips	Studer A810	July 2014
Reel-to-reel 7 1/2 ips	Studer A810	July 2014
Reel-to-reel 3 3/4 ips	Studer A810	July 2014
Reel-to-reel 7/8 ips	No suitable in-house machine	as of October 2015
Minidisk	Processed at Melbourne	n/a
*.wav files	Procesed at Melbourne, ANU or APAC	2015
DAT	Sony PCM 7040	July 2014
CD	CD inspector on Audiocube 3	n/a

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