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reliable format for holding film information. As noted in Recommendation 3.2, saving the original film artifact remains a basic archival principle.
New preservation technologies offer opportunities to break through the current impasse, but they need to be approached cautiously. The very speed of technological evolution reinforces the apparently oldfashioned importance of saving film as film.
Television and Video Preservation
Motion pictures represent, as testimony and written comments last year pointed out, only a portion of America's moving image heritage. Since the advent of television broadcasting, archives have moved rapidly into collecting 16mm newsfilm, kinescopes of early broadcasts, and videotape— often rescuing material thrown away by television stations. As video has become more portable and inexpensive, many organizations, including most U.S. government agencies, have switched from film to video for internal documentation and educational outreach. These organizations are now sending videotapes, many in obsolete formats, to archives.
There is little up-to-date information on the problems facing American television and video preservation. Merely documenting the size of national collections is a formidable task. The most recent survey, completed eight years ago by the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the American Film Institute, counted among 28 responding archives over 125,000 hours of video in a range of formats— 1/2-inch and 3/4-inch cassette; 1/2-inch, one-inch, and two-inch open reel— as well as millions of feet of newsfilm and filmed television programs. To judge from the popularity of video and the evolution of digital-tape formats, holdings are undoubtedly much larger today.
Recommendation 3.8: Television and Video Preservation Study
Conduct a national study on the state of preservation of American television and video materials. The Library of Congress will seek Congressional authorization for a national study of television and video preservation, similar to that completed in 1993 for American film. This study will cover technical problems, current practices in public and commercial archives, the concerns of copyright owners, and the access needs of educators. The Library will request funding for both the study and development of a national television and video preservation plan under the framework of the American Television and Radio Archive (ATRA) legislation.
10 Redefining Film Preservation