The following is a text-only press release from the federal Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS). An HTML version of this release with
photo can be read on the agency's Web site at
www.imls.gov/news/2007/092007.shtm.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 20, 2007

IMLS Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Jeannine Mjoseth, [log in to unmask]
Mamie Bittner, [log in to unmask] 	

Berkeley Lab Press Contact
510-486-4019
Dan Krotz, [log in to unmask]

3D Scanner May Save Vanishing Languages from Extinction

Washington, DC-Fragile field recordings of American Indian speech and
song gathered in the early 1900s may be saved for future generations
through breakthrough technology supported by the U.S. Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The Institute is funding the
research and development of a 3D optical scanner through a $507,233
interagency agreement with the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (LBNL) announced Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and IMLS
Director Anne-Imelda Radice, Ph.D. Sept. 20.

"This agreement underscores the federal commitment to making critical
and irreplaceable collections held by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of
Anthropology - and thousands of museums, libraries, and archives around
the country - available to the widest possible audience while preserving
and protecting the original objects and respecting the sensitive nature
of the recordings," said Lee who represents Berkeley in the 9th
Congressional District of California.

"The 2,700 wax cylinder recordings held by the Hearst museum are jewels
in a treasure trove of early recordings that we hope will be rescued,"
Radice said. "Saving the delicate recordings, which literally may keep
alive some of these Native American languages, fits squarely within the
goals of IMLS's conservation initiative -- Connecting to Collections: A
Call to Action." Nationwide, there are approximately 20,000 Native
American fieldwork recordings on fragile wax cylinders, the earliest
method of recording and reproducing sound.

Other rare recordings that could benefit from the technology include:
* Field recordings of linguistic, cultural, and anthropological
materials, such as early 20th century Mexican-American folk recordings
from Southern California and Hawaiian folk music recordings.
* Field recordings of American and European folk music, including those
recorded and collected by John Lomax.
* Speeches of historical figures such as Thomas Edison, Theodore
Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and P.T.
Barnum.

The new 3D system builds on a 2D system also developed by the Berkeley
Lab called IRENE (Image, Reconstruct, Erase Noise, Etc.), which gathers
digital sound from grooved discs (flat recordings such as traditional 78
rpm shellac disc records) by illuminating the record surface with a
narrow beam of light. The flat bottoms of the groove -- and the spaces
between tracks -- appear white, while the sloped sides of the groove,
scratches, and dirt appear black. The computer turns this information
into a digital sound file and corrects areas where scratches, breaks or
wear have made the groove wider or narrower than normal. IRENE then
"plays" the file with a virtual needle without damaging or destroying
the original media. The technology was adapted from methods used to
build radiation detectors for high-energy physics experiments. 

IMLS is funding the next stage of the project: development of the 3D
imaging sound player that can read foil, wax, plastic cylinders (which
preceded the development of flat records), plastic dictation belts, and
discs. The 3D technology is required to read cylinders since the sound
is held in vertical movements of the groove. The 3D device is based upon
a type of confocal microscope. White light directed at the surface of a
cylinder or disc passes through a special lens, creating a spectrum.
Each color of the spectrum comes into focus at a different depth so the
color of the reflected light reveals the height of the scanned point. A
computer assembles these points into profiles for each groove and
translates the data into a sound file. The 3D scan would extract
information based on 20-30 points - compared to IRENE's 2-4 points -
also offering the possibility of higher quality sound files. Tinfoil and
wax cylinders were developed in the late 1870s and 1880s, and cylinders
remained in use until 1929, when commercial production for these music
recordings ceased. However, cylinder technology continued to be used for
dictation recordings for office use into the early 1950s.

"IRENE and its 3D offspring have the potential to recover great recorded
sound collections in libraries, museums, and archives across the United
States," said Carl Haber, a senior scientist in LBNL's Physics Division
who developed the technology with fellow Physics Division scientist
Vitaliy Fadeyev. "The project could revolutionize the preservation of
early recordings because it will use digital imaging to recover sound
from three-dimensional recordings without contact with the media."

IMLS is funding development of two 3D prototype machines: one will be
evaluated at Berkeley, the other at the Library of Congress. Both
systems could be available to the national community of museums and
libraries. By the project's end, the path to reproduce the technology
should be clear and the raw hardware costs should decrease significantly
over time. The prototype's open design will enable improvements to the
hardware and software as more experience is acquired.

In addition to potentially providing preservation-quality transfers of
all mechanical formats, the project would provide a comprehensive
assessment of the media's condition. The Heritage Health Index, a survey
on the state of the nation's collections supported by IMLS, reported
that American collections contain 46.4 million items of recorded sound,
and 9.6 million (21 percent) are in grooved formats that could be
affected by development of the prototype. A comprehensive assessment is
needed because of the 9.6 million grooved carriers, 59 percent were in
an unknown condition. With the new system, even cracked or scratched
cylinders could be reproduced. 


About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of
federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums.
The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that
connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the
national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to
sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and
innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about
the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

About the Berkeley National Laboratory
The Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory
located in Berkeley, CA. It conducts unclassified scientific research
and is managed by the University of California. The Lab's website is at
http://www.lbl.gov.

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