Katrina, all tape... whether video or audio... has a limited life span.  It is the same problem our film industry faces when restoring classics from the early years.  Even sitting on a shelf, tape deteriorates and the stored work will be lost.

The answer is to duplicate your originals on a digital medium.  Preferably a hard drive format.  There is digital video tape formats, but you face the same problems you are incurring now...  for tape itself IS the problem.

If you are just doing it for preservation and not violating your licensing contract (i.e. not selling anything you aren't supposed to), you should have no problem with copyright laws.    After all, it's the same material you were already licensed to use.  That would be like buying the rights to use part of a Springsteen song but your CD skips.  Buying a new CD wouldn't entail you doubling your licensing costs.  It's the material that's protected... not the medium playing it.

But, when in doubt, check with a knowledgeable attorney who specializes in this area.  

If you'd like more specifics on hard drive video storage, contact me off list and I can refer to you local sources and specialists.

Terri Fiyalko
Newton-Bard
1650 NW Front Ave - Suite 110
Portland, OR  97209
(503) 273-2273
http://newtonbard.com/nbtours.html




On Friday, April 13, 2001, Katrina Klingaman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Could anyone shed some light on the problem I seem to be having with our
>video collection?  We recently began to implement a preservation plan for
>our library and in my research of preservation methods for videocassettes I
>discovered that most conservation sources recommend making and storing
>multiple copies.  Then the original would never be circulated and more
>copies could be made later.
>
>Talking with our media librarian, however, this seems to violate copyright
>law and our licensing contracts.  Has anyone else dealt with this problem?
>If we cannot make multiple copies, what can we do to keep our tapes from
>wearing out?
>
>Thanks,
>Katrina Klingaman
>Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences
>University of Alabama at Birmingham
>[log in to unmask]
>

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