Background
- Audio and video recordings, and motion picture films are becoming inaccessible because playback equipment is aging and obsolete, expertise to repair equipment is disappearing and the physical carriers are deteriorating.
- In 2009, LAC began a planned migration of AV content to standard file formats.
- Physical carriers that are at highest risk of loss due to obsolescence issues are migrated first.
Considerations
- Approximately 95% of the AV collection has copyright and/or donor restrictions. This means the content cannot be made publicly available.
Key Public Messages
- LAC has approximately 650,000 hours of audio and video content and 100,000 motion picture films. The collection continues to grow.
- As of June 2019, 207,171 hours have been migrated and 20,000 hours will be migrated annually.
- Without migration, the content on audio and video recordings will become completely inaccessible.
SME:
Tina Harvey, Manager, Audiovisual Migration Section
Email: tina.harvey2@canada.ca
Tel: 613-899-2561