Library IT Completes Work for Beinecke Videotape Digitization Initiative

"Video tape archive" by Drs Kulturarvsprojekt is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Video tape archive” by Drs Kulturarvsprojekt is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Staff within the Enterprise Systems and Architecture group have completed several areas of work that will allow the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library to move forward with their renewed video digitization effort starting in November 2014.  The Beinecke aims to digitize approximately 1,600 videotapes to both rescue at-risk material and provide greater access to these collections materials through the Beinecke Digital Library.  Special thanks to Steve DiSorbo, Systems Programmer and Yue Ji, Senior Programmer Analyst for all of their work on this project.

Library IT has completed the following in support of this initiative:

  • Expanded the tape repository that serves as the preservation end-point to accommodate the estimate 180TB of digital master video files that are anticipated to be created through digitization
  • Developed a general purpose Quality Control tool used to validate the successful capture of newly created digital surrogates.  This tool can be used going forward for other video digitization projects across Yale University Library
  • Developed various automation and integration functionality to move content from the SAMMA video capture stations to the tape repository, and capture technical and descriptive metadata throughout the process
  • And finally, expanded the Kaltura Video Platform, the video delivery service  used by the Beinecke Digital Library to stream content to patrons worldwide

Hydra Project Milestone: Automation

The Digital Library & Programming group is pleased to announce that we’ve hit a major milestone the development of the Hydra digital repository system at YUL. Communication and syncing between repository system components became fully automated at the end of September 2014. This automation applies not just to work on the infrastructure built for the Kissinger papers, but for all Ladybird/Hydra interaction.

Automation like this allows metadata and objects to travel within the Hydra system without intervention, which in turn allows Library IT to focus more intensely on structural and workflow development. As a Project Hydra partner, Yale is now in the position to share this work with the Project Hydra community, and empower those members to scale up their own repository ingest services.