Australia: National Archives to Spend $3 Million on Saving at-Risk Audio and Video Recordings
Note: As of October 27, 2020: $2 Million/AUD = $2.137/USD
From The Canberra Times:
The National Archives will save more than 30,000 at-risk recordings with a $3 million spend aiming to digitise its ageing audio and video tapes.
Critical records of Australian culture and history could be lost forever as the magnetic tape deteriorates beyond repair and equipment to play it back disappears, the archives has warned.
Director-general David Fricker on Tuesday announced the agency would spend the money – which is from its own internal funds – despite its budget pressures.
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The archives has 270,000 audiovisual records on magnetic tape and has already digitised about 80,000 of the most critical items.
It’s identified about 160,000 more critical, at-risk recordings in need of copying, and estimates its five-year program would need $3 million in funding each year.
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Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Funding, News, Video Recordings

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.