|
|
 |
|
Production
|
 |
|
 |
 |
Digitizing history
Library of Congress facility stores, converts media assets
Mar 12, 2008
|
|
by James O'Neal
|
Situated high on, and partially buried within, a hill in the rolling Virginia Piedmont plateau countryside is a most unusual building. Inside it is an even more unusual collection of audiovisual technology and artifacts, possibly the most spectacular and impressive anywhere in the world.
Officially known as the Packard Campus of the Library of Congress (LOC) National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, the structure contains a vast number of recordings preserved on a variety of media, and in an almost limitless number of formats. These materials, along with the content contained in these various recording methodologies, are being converted to digital records made available for research purposes.
"We have a total of 6.2 million collection items," said Greg Lukow, chief of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division. Lukow said. "That's 1.2 million moving image items, three million sound recordings, and two million supporting documents."
No matter how you measure it, that's a lot of content. And it continues to grow by some 120,000 to 150,000 items each year, with the overwhelming majority entering through the auspices of the U.S. Copyright Office.
 |
| The Library of Congress (LOC) National Audio-Visual Conservation Center houses more than six million collection items, including video, film, and audio assets. |
You Put It Where?
Although it's still a work in progress, some areas are operational and additional ones are coming online at regular intervals. It's currently staffed with 60 government workers, a number that will more than double when all systems are installed and running. Ascent Media has been responsible for the overall design of audio/visual aspects, with Communications Engineering, Inc. (CEI) performing equipment installations.
The physical size of the complex itself is staggering -- 415,000 square feet, which is more than seven football fields -- and contains literally millions of items. There are actually four building components: a collections storage building, conservation building, the "nitrate vaults," and a central plant.
Because such a large infrastructure had to be created for the facility, you have to wonder why it's located in Culpeper, VA, some 75 miles from Capitol Hill and main Library of Congress operations.
The project got started during the Clinton administration and stemmed from a private sector grant of $10 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The funding was made available to the LOC to provide storage and conservation space for the library's audiovisual collections.
As it happened, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond owned a 41-acre tract of land and a large building in Culpeper, a Cold War artifact that had outlived its original purpose. It was constructed almost completely underground, making temperature and humidity control relatively easy, which such seemed ideal for the LOC collection.
Modifications were necessary. The original 140,000-square-foot structure was completely gutted, totally rebuilt, and interfaced to a new above-ground addition. Lukow said construction began in August 2003. "The design work was done in close consultation with the Library of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol," he added, "and the property was turned over to the government on July 26, 2007."
A formal opening date has yet to be announced. Lukow estimated the final price tag on the facility will be around one quarter of a billion dollars. However, more than half of that figure -- $155 million -- was provided through the Packard Humanities Institute.
Focus On Film
Collection items span more than a century, going back to the beginnings of man's attempts to capture moving images and sounds for others to witness. Virtually every known recording format is represented, and as stored information is useless unless there's methodology for recovering it, the center contains a daunting collection of AV equipment as well.
Preserved video is there on everything from the original Ampex 2-inch quadraplex format through the latest digital media. Audio exists on everything from Edison cylinders to DAT. And while the bulk of the motion picture footage is on 35mm and 16mm film, there are several variations.
One special area in the center is for safe storage of remaining movies shot on nitrate footage. By official count, there are some 140,000 reels of this stock -- and due to the chemical instability and explosive potential of nitrate film, special provisions had to be incorporated to both store it safely and to slow its eventual deterioration.
Concentration and immobilization of remaining nitrate footage is not the only goal; another part of the project is to copy it onto modern safety-base film and to preserve images digitally. To accommodate the first part of this long-term process, a special film processing laboratory for preserving images is being constructed at the Culpeper facility.
"There will be four black and white processors and two color units," said James Snyder, a project engineer with CEI. "Space is being provided for two additional processors if they're required."
Along with the processing machines, there's a chemical mixing operation with vats that could accommodate a small car, a silver recovery operation, nine film printing rooms, and a water purification plant that could probably serve a small town. "Three wells were drilled to serve the facility," Snyder noted.
There's also an impressive amount of on-site AC power generating capability. "There are four 650 KVA generators in place," said Snyder. "Plans are to augment this with a large UPS system, but that is still being worked on. We're looking into a flywheel type of UPS. Those [nitrate] film vaults have to be kept cold."
The film operation is a consolidation of several other LOC facilities, reaching from Maryland to Ohio, according to Snyder. The ultimate goal is to scan all footage and save it to a digital storage format. Bob Bieberdorf, CEI senior design engineer, explained that special care and attention will be used in doing the digital transfers.
"They will be doing frame-by-frame color correction with the da Vinci 2K system," Bieberdorf said. "Plans are for two scanners, a 2K and a 4K."
After scanning and color correction, content will be converted to DPX or JPEG-2000 files, quality checked, and then stored on archival digital media. Plans call for making this content easily accessible to researchers via a playback-on-demand system linked to viewing stations at the Library's Capitol Hill reading rooms. A dedicated fiber path is being provided to bridge the distance between Culpeper and Washington.
Playback And Beyond
While digital video may be the gold standard of the 21st century, the LOC facility's collection has to accommodate analog video recordings that stem from the introduction of this technology in 1956.
Although neither Ampex's nor RCA's first-generation recorders are in the arsenal of machines that can be used to playback an hour of 1960s primetime programming, older broadcast engineers would be very much at home with the machines that are either in operation or being readied for service. These include Ampex VR-2000s, AVR-2s, and others. While one of the VR-2000s was relocated from service at the LOC's Madison Building location in downtown Washington, DC, and is in pristine condition, other machines came from various sources and needed some TLC before they could go online.
One-inch type "C" and even type "B" entities are represented, as is the EIAJ 1/2-inch open reel format. D6 is there, as well as most other modern formats. "We are setting things up for all tape formats, reel and cassette," said Snyder, "But the largest number of video recordings here are on 3/4-inch cassettes." The LOC will use several SAMMA robotic systems to digitize its 3/4-inch video collection.
While obtaining spares for modern playback equipment is relatively easy, the same cannot be said for gear that first saw light of day decades ago. Some of the equipment makers have been out of business for decades.
As a result, the facility maintains a very large storeroom, which is almost a broadcast equipment museum unto itself. It's filled with radio and television artifacts, including recorders, circuit cards, head drums, and most all other parts and assemblies needed to keep the LOC's complement of vintage gear in operation.
Despite the emphasis on video recordings and film, audio is by no means a wicked stepchild at the Culpeper facility. In fact, it's the repository for possibly the largest collection of audio recordings, with these captured and stored in just about every conceivable format.
Nine audio "critical listening rooms" have been constructed with state-of-the-art equipment for screening and transferring audio. Generally, this is done by staffers with so-called "golden ears" and an innate knowledge of recording and audio technologies.
The Culpeper facility was designed for purposes beyond preservation. For example, it features a 200-seat 1930s Art Deco motion picture theatre, authentic down to its carpet pattern and lighting fixtures. A specially constructed electronic organ was also included in the design, styled to replicate its piped ancestors, with the console constructed on an elevator-controlled pedestal.
"The organ is built in the style of the 'Mighty Wurlitzer' theatre models," said Lukow. "It's stored under the stage and can rise to stage level for pre-screening performances, or just part way up for silent movie screenings." Plans are to open the theatre to the public two or three evenings per week, with free screenings from the library's collections.
MORE INFO
Ascent Media ascentmedia.com
CEI commeng.com
da Vinci davsys.com
SAMMA Systems samma.com
|
Security Cameras, Surveillance and CCTV Systems
We provide CCTV systems, security cameras, video surveillance products from Geovision, Pelco, Samsung and Bosch. Free estimates, design and shipping. Audio Visual Equipment
Quality Audio Visual Products including CD/DVD Duplicators & Printers, Digital Recorders, & media equipment. Audio / Video Cables
Audio video cables for home theater, DVD and audio etc. High Quality like monster cable--s video cable, RCA cable, subwoofer cables, component video
|
|
|
Government Video is part of the NewBay Media Community
copyright 2007© NewBay Media LLC.
810 Seventh Avenue, 27th Floor New York, NY 10019 T (212)378-0400 F (212)378-2160
|
|
|
