The Importance of Digitizing Sound
by Sarah Galloway, MLIS Candidate
In the Archival world, there is debate about whether or not digitizing archival records is necessary, cost-effective, or time-worthy. Although there is no clear-cut answer to those concerns for most archival objects, there is one particular type of archival media that is in desperate need of digitization: old sound recordings.
In the past, sound has been recorded on records, reel-to-reel, and audio cassette tapes. Although the records are doing okay, any sound that has been recorded on any type of tape is being lost. Reel-to-reels are disintegrating and cassette tapes are becoming brittle, cracked or dented. Old tapes of everything from operas to presidential speeches are being lost to future listeners.
Dr. Arthur Beer from the University of Detroit Mercy states that "[i]t is becoming more important by the day to digitize reel-to-reels...mainly because the younger generation does not even know how to use the machine, and might further damage the records if used improperly." He feels that if we cannot get this particular media digitized within the next two to three years, they will be lost forever, either due to disintegration or lack of knowledge of the machines from the users.
Another problem with reel-to-reel media is that if a reel-to-reel breaks, it is extremely expensive to fix, or to buy a new one. Tim Lentz from the Detroit Opera House Archives says that their reel-to-reel is on the fritz, and they cannot even find one to replace theirs in the United States, and the one they found in Canada is entirely out of their price range. "This is concerning" is what he said. He knows the longer they wait, the more damage will be done to their recordings, so they are trying very hard to find a machine that can work for their purposes.
The Archival world may be divided on many practicing issues, but the one thing they do agree on is that we need to maintain our sound recordings, or lose them forever.
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