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February 2006, Week 1

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From:
LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 7 Feb 2006 13:16:25 EST
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(1) from   [log in to unmask]

Hello Joseph::

Five years ago we embarked upon a massive campaign to convert our analog 
audio holdings to digital format. Not everything in archives was deemed 
to be of sufficient interest to be kept and we were left with an entire 
room of old reel to reel tapes.  Looking back on what we did:

 

Sort the tapes by category.  Then notify the department or entity on 
campus most likely to be interested of their existence. French 
department of your French tapes, etc. The offer can be made to donate 
these tapes to them. Provided they have the required storage space they 
may accept. Sometimes all that is needed is a short length of bookshelf.

 

There may be a repository for audio archives on your campus; perhaps the 
library might have a collection you could add to.  I would say be 
thorough in the notification process, trying to get the word out to all 
who might be interested.  A single email to a department head might not 
suffice, except in so far as it covers your you-know-what against the 
advent, years later, of scholars irate, demanding dust-covered archives 
of long forgotten pedagogical oddities.

 

In the end you may with confidence call the campus recycling office to 
haul away the leftovers.


Regards,

Mark Sanford



LLTI-Editor wrote:

>--- Forwarded Message from Joseph Kautz <[log in to unmask]> ---
>
>  
>
>>Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 08:23:17 -0800 (PST)
>>From: Joseph Kautz <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: LLTI-List <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: Discarding Reel to Reel Language Tapes
>>    
>>
>
>
>Hello. I have the unenviable duty of sorting through and discarding a room
>full of reel to reel language tapes.  Has any other lab done this?  Did
>you save any of it?  What criteria did you use deciding what to keep?  It
>is easy to get misty eyed perusing the titles.  We will be saving a few
>tapes with rare/endangered language content, but the rest will be pitched.
>I will sleep better knowing that I have not overlooked an important
>archival consideration.  Joseph
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>Joseph Kautz
>Academic Technology Specialist - Stanford Language Center
>Meyer 280B - Stanford, CA 94305-3101 - (650) 725-1615
>
>Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees please!
>Joni Mitchell
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>***********************************************
> LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for
>Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and
>Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu).
>Join IALLT at http://iallt.org.
>Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
>***********************************************
>  
>

-- 

John Mark Sanford
Senior Multimedia Technician
Center for Language Study
Yale University
Tel. (203) 432-0588
Fax. (203) 432-4485
[log in to unmask] 
http://www.cls.yale.edu <http://www.cls.yale.edu/>

(2) from  [log in to unmask]

Hi Joseph --

         Yes, we had to do that at Yale in 2000, going through 
materials saved since 1962 -- we found more than ten thousand reels 
(not to mention thousands of cassettes!) of language materials.  Some 
were easy to discard -- z B.  the workbook exercises accompanying 
editions 1,2,3,4, and 5 of textbooks that went out of print in 1977, 
etc.  Other than those, though, we left the decision-making to the 
individual language programs, because we certainly didn't want to be 
to blame if something got discarded that later on turned out to be 
desirable.  The departments could then make their own index of what 
they kept;  the reels to be kept were stored in an off-campus 
facililty with controlled temperature and humidity.  Anything that a 
teacher wanted to teach with we digitized immediately, but now each 
department or individual professors can look through the index of 
saved reels and ask us to digitize, clean up, and put on our servers 
anything they want.  (So if Professor X wants to write a scholarly 
article on the poetry of Y and someone remembers that she came to 
Yale in 1973 to read her poetry and was recorded, he can look up the 
recording and ask us for it.)  We also found some reels that had been 
put on reserve in the old Language Lab by other departments -- 
Beowulf and Chaucer, for example, and even a set of Psychology 
Department lectures on Human Sexuality that were greeted with tears 
of joy by the authors, who didn't know that any of their tapes were 
extant.  There again, we just let the dept decide whether and how to keep it.

         It was quite a job, but worth it!  Have fun --

         Best,
                 Nina


(3) from [log in to unmask]

A sad duty, but necessary, I guess, as it was for us a few years ago.
Keep in mind that the track configuration of the old tapes may not allow
them to be easily re-played or transferred to another format now. If
they are old 4-track tapes, for instance if they were used on Chester
Dial Access or other 4-track systems, you may not be able to find a tape
player with that same head configuration.
By now these tapes are probably at least 20 years old, probably closer
to 30 or more, so they will have suffered some typical problems: oxide
loss, print through, bonding, edge curling, etc. 
Also, any language material will have gone through many new editions,
leaving the tapes "orphaned", since no one will have books for them
anymore, so they are probably useless.
If they are language tapes and nothing else, toss them with impunity!

This makes me feel somewhat nostalgic though. 
One of our most annoying tasks with the open reels in the 1960s and '70s
used to be throwing away the old tape but recycling the reels. So we
would put a 7" reel on a pencil (to serve as a spindle), hold them over
wastebaskets, and have races spinning the tape off into the baskets.
Finding creative ways to use bins full of unreeled tape was also fun.
Cheers,
Ed

"Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season."
                     -T.S. Eliot; "Gerontion"
===========================================
Edmund N. Dente
Director, Language Media Center
Ass't Director, Media Services
Tufts University           Medford, MA 02155
[log in to unmask]             617.627.3036



(4) from  [log in to unmask]

You should check with your institution (library) to see if they have a 
historical archival unit, especially for material produced at the 
university. They should be able to give you good information on 
migrating and archiving the media. They might also be able to accept 
the reels into their collection, and give them the proper attention for 
preservation.

I would highly advise that you consult with a professional archivist 
before you make any decisions, whether it be someone at your 
institution, or in the field.

Good Luck!
Julie Evershed
Language Resource Center
University of Michigan




 


***********************************************
 LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for
Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and
Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu).
Join IALLT at http://iallt.org.
Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
***********************************************

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