This holiday season join us here on the blog for the 12 Days of NCDHC. We’ll be posting short entries that reveal something you may not know about us. You can view all of the posts together by clicking on the 12daysofncdhc tag. And, as always, chat with us if you have questions or want to work with us on something new. Happy Holidays!
Day 8: Audio Digitization
A cassette tape with a recorded oral history with Jackie Evans, dated 5/31/2001.
The NCDHC digitizes most of our partners’ materials here at Wilson Special Collections Library, which is part of UNC Chapel Hill Libraries. There’s a Digital Production Center with a variety of equipment that can handle most any print formats as well as three-dimensional objects. Until quite recently the only types of items we sent out to a vendor for digitization were microfilmed newspapers, moving image formats, and audio formats. Thanks to a partnership with the Southern Folklife Collection (SFC) in Wilson Library, many audio formats can now be digitized right here on site.
The staff of the SFC are renowned around the country for their work on audiovisual preservation and digitization. On a daily basis they are transferring at-risk formats from Wilson Library’s collections to digital. Thanks to grants from the Mellon Foundation, this work has gotten an additional boost over the last few years to expand beyond Wilson. NCDHC partners can now have audio formats digitized at any time. The SFC has already worked with partner institutions to digitize audio formats that include oral histories, music performances, and even a tobacco auction.
If you’re a current or potential partner and would like to talk about audio digitization, just contact us.
Check back on Wednesday as we reveal Day 9 of the 12 Days of NCDHC!
