Automated Archiving of DVD Content

A little more than a decade after their introduction, DVDs are becoming obsolete. As a result collecting institutions must find a long term preservation solution for content in DVD format.

To address this challenge the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) developed an automated workflow for transcoding DVDs using a tool built with open source software. Automated and potentially customizable, the tool allows for the creation of a series of files including a preservation quality file for long term storage, an ISO disk image, streaming files for access purposes, as well as technical and preservation metadata. The tool also applies a reference metric that allows for automated quality checks of the video files. The resulting output can be used as a Submission Information Package (SIP) suitable for ingest into a repository.

The University of Texas Libraries is testing the tool on its DVD collections, streamlining workflows for both preservation and access. Several modifications have been made to the tool to support the production needs of the Libraries. This presentation will highlight aspects of the development of the tool and will discuss the implementation and testing in reference to the resultant output files and metadata, the differences between the museum and library workflow application, and the overall usefulness of the tool.

Contributors on the project include: Maria Esteva (TACC, UT Austin); Karla Vega (TACC, UT Austin); Heriberto Nieto (TACC, UT Austin); Bethany Scott (Charlotte Mecklenburg Library); Kertana Kumar (College of Natural Sciences, UT Austin); Vandy Henriksen (UT Libraries); Anna Lamphear (UT Libraries); Jennifer Lee (UT Libraries); Wendy Martin (UT Libraries).