Audio documents in the collections of memory institutions in context of long term preservation in the Czech Republic. Feasibility study by National Library of the Czech Republic about the possibility of long term preservation of digitized items
Summary: A great attention has been paid in the Czech Republic in the recent past to the digitization of printed materials and a long term preservation of digitized documents. Now is the turn of another, until now almost neglected, valuable part of our cultural heritage – audio documents. In cooperation with the Moravian Library in Brno, the National Library of the Czech Republic started last year to look at long term preservation of audio documents. Analysis was made of the situation in the rest of the world and standards and recommendations of international organisations (ARSC2, 3, IASA4, 5, LOC6 etc.) as well as the practice of selected foreign institutions – libraries, archives, institutional repositories were examined. Software tools for work with file formats of audio documents were also tested. On the basis of the data found, file formats were selected for archiving and accessibility to audio docu-ments together with metadata schemes for their description and tools for identification, validation and characterization.
Keywords: audio documents, digital preservation, long term preservation, digital formats, metada
The study can be read here.