Well, this is why membership in AMIA and attending the conference (Hi, Kim, Stephen and Francis!) and participating on its listserv is invaluable because these problems and issues -- the importance of small gauge films and their preservation -- are discussed as frequently as public performance is discussed here.
And as Gary has mentioned frequently, many of these 16mm prints at institutions are the *only* copies in existence and there are NO video copies of many of them either. What we're facing here at institutions is the filmic equivalent of Fahrenheit 451. The only trained film archivist performing restorations and preservation at a public library in the country -- that I know of -- is the wonderful Elena Rossi-Snook at the New York Public Library Reserve Film & Video Collection, Library for the Performing Arts. Her blog is here<http://www.nypl.org/blog/author/318> and she is one of the best authorities on 16mm print collections along with independents Rick Prelinger, Geoff Alexander and a few others. She's also on the Board of Directors at AMIA. I'm hoping she'll chime in on the discussion. *That said, if anybody has 16mm copies of any of Shirley Clarke's films (I can send a list) or IN THE LAND OF THE WAR CANOES they want to deliver to a good home (and we are the rights holders), please contact me! These would be for a very important project.* Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video milefi...@gmail.com On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 7:31 PM, Susan Weber <swe...@langara.bc.ca> wrote: > ** > I'm doing the very same thing, Barb. At least I still have some film fans > in town, and I've passed the list to > a couple of universities, who are taking about a total of 150 of our films. > Some film Depts. want film for practising their editing. That still > leaves 4,000 more to find homes. If only > 16mm wasn't so heavy, and shipping so costly - I'm not about to ship to > Boston or Chicago. > > Susan > > On 08/12/2011 2:59 PM, Bergman, Barbara J wrote: > > I have to do some very extreme weeding of our remaining 16mm films. > (Losing their storage space. Space for VHS & DVDs is not effected, > fortunately.)**** > > ** ** > > Do you have archives or other places you’d suggest I contact, who might > want to give some reels a new home?**** > > ** ** > > (I’ve sent films to the Chicago Film Archive, Harvard’s, and have a list > to go to David in Rhode Island.)**** > > ** ** > > Barb Bergman | Media Services & Interlibrary Loan Librarian | Minnesota > State University, Mankato | (507) 389-5945 | barbara.berg...@mnsu.edu**** > > ** ** > > > --
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
