UB-AV - Competence Team for Audiovisual Media
UB-AV is a cooperation between the University Library of Zurich and the Department of Film Studies. We are the point of contact for audiovisual media, formats and collections of all kinds, especially when it comes to transferring existing UZH collections to the digital domain, supporting cataloging and evaluating them using digital analysis tools.
Backup of AV Data
Many institutes at UZH have built up collections of audiovisual material over decades - mostly on optical media such as DVD and Blu-ray or on magnetic tape (primarily VHS). These collections are often inconsistent and in some cases only rudimentarily recorded. In addition, these AV media have a limited shelf life. Without adequate measures, extensive data loss may be expected in the coming years. It is therefore necessary to develop and implement strategies for the long-term preservation of AV data.
Metadata
Another focus is on metadata. AV collections have different requirements in terms of recording and cataloging than print media. The University Library's current infrastructure is focuses mainly on books. The long-term goal of UB-AV is to catalog the audiovisual media available at the UZH institutes as completely as possible and, as far as possible, to make them available as linked open data.
Current Projects
Digital Film Library
One focus of UB-AV is the Digital Film Library project, which aims to migrate the extensive DVD/Blu-ray collection of the University Library's Film Studies video library to a server and make it available online.
pUBlic viewing
The aim of our pUBlic viewing sub-project is to identify and migrate all public domain films in the Film Studies video library, secure them for the long term and make them available within the UZH network.
FIWI-ON
The FIWI-ON project, which is funded by swissuniversities with a Swiss Open Research Data Grant, focuses on the area of metadata and aims to reorganize the catalog of the film studies collection according to modern principles.
Standardized identifiers that enable links within the collection as well as with external institutions and platforms are especially important. The knowledge gained in this project will benefit all UZH members working with AV data.
Further Plans
We are in the process of setting up an infrastructure for the migration of the most commonly used formats. We already have equipment for the mass migration of optical media as well as a film scanner and can digitize all film formats from 8mm to 35mm, including Super 16 and special formats such as 9.5 and 28mm. In the future, we will also be able to migrate popular video formats.