[QuadList] Library of Congress and quads - the First Hand

Thu Aug 8 14:53:10 CDT 2013

James,

Great reply.  Thank you for the time it took to pull this together. I'm 
sure it was many multiples of the time it took any one of us to read it.

Bunches of descriptors come to mind, such as:  reasoned, thorough, 
informative, non-defensive, interesting, sad...and more.  (Hope you have 
or acquire IVC 1 inch.)

Regards,
Steve

On 8/8/13 1:34 PM, James Snyder wrote:
>
> Don (and Ed Reitan as well),
>
> I don't know where your "first hand reports" are coming from, but I am 
> the person who develops and implements the technical budgets and 
> planning for the Library of Congress' facility in Culpeper.  I am the 
> first hand.  Everything else is hearsay by people who, at best, are 
> bystanders to this issue.
>
> The dysfunction in the Unites States Congress that you read about or 
> watch on TV everyday is a fact of life we deal with as part of our 
> daily jobs.  Clearly the two political parties have very different 
> priorities for the Federal government at a fundamental, conceptual 
> level.  The reality is we at the Library and every other Federal 
> agency are affected by that dysfunction. The very fact a budget isn't 
> passed until 3-6 months INTO the fiscal year means we cannot take 
> actions or spend money for much of the year since the money simply 
> isn't there.  Beyond the larger political dysfunction, this is a 
> yearly dysfunction that prevents us from acting even if the money will 
> eventually be there.  Which for us it will most likely not be.
>
> The Library has a number of people both employed and under contract 
> that can handle the maintenance of a wide range of machinery, 
> including 2" quad machines.  What we DON'T have is the money to 
> restore the machines we've acquired to operational condition since, 
> under the current budgetary conditions, we have had to make a choice 
> between restoring old machinery to working condition, or fixing the 
> currently-working machines and continuing production as it stands 
> today.  Our management has made the decision to keep the current set 
> of machinery operating with the hope that the budget squeeze will 
> eventually end and we can do more than tread water.
>
> Part of the decision-making process is also how many operators we have 
> to run the machines: if we had a dozen working 2" machines today we 
> don't have enough people to run them full time.  With the current 
> prohibition on hiring imposed by Congress, even of part-time or 
> contract personnel, we aren't likely to have the operators any time 
> soon.  The House of Representatives leadership has made it clear that 
> their goal is to reduce Federal employment, not increase it.  From 
> their perspective, its irrelevant if that employment is a full time 
> employee, part time employee, or a contractor.  More Federal 
> employment is not currently on their roadmap.  That includes us. Talk 
> or write to your Senators and Congressman if you think that should be 
> different in our case. They may listen to you if you are in their 
> district.
>
> That doesn't mean we shouldn't collect old equipment, however. The 
> fact is our mission at the Library, and indeed our requirement under 
> Federal law, is to maintain accessibility and usability of the 
> collection for a minimum of the Copyright registration period, which 
> is no less than 125 years for the content areas my division (MBRS: the 
> Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound division) is responsible 
> for maintaining under the Copyright law. That means we either have the 
> machines to play the materials, or to play them back to digitize.  The 
> reason the NAVCC was created was to start the digitization process 
> since, clearly, the original media is not going to last forever.  We 
> are in a race in many cases to preserve materials before they decay 
> beyond usability.
>
> The statement "They apparently do not have the technical expertise to 
> repair and maintain the machines they have which include a large 
> number of quads that have been donated and are simply collecting 
> dust." is both false and true:
>
> It is false that we do not have the "technical expertise to repair and 
> maintain the machines".  We have a number of very smart people who are 
> trained in VTR maintenance and restoration work and we have enough 
> spare parts to keep the machines that are running today running IF we 
> don't take another double-digit cut in our operating budget next 
> year.  Our guidance from the House of Representatives is to expect 
> another double digit cut to our operating budget in 2014. This will be 
> the third year in a row we've taken such a cut.  Our technical 
> operating budget is 60% below where it was when the building opened in 
> 2007.  Not because we're not doing good work or spending money 
> efficiently,  but simply because we are a Federal agency.
>
> It is true that we have nearly 2 dozen quad machines that are 
> currently in storage.  "Gathering dust" is a relative term since they 
> are in climate controlled storage with filtered air, but they are 
> sitting unused at the moment.  If someone would like to make a six 
> figure donation to restore all of our machines to operational 
> condition we will be happy to entertain such a donation and make it 
> happen.  Or even a smaller donation.  We're not picky at the moment.
>
> Regardless of the current political climate, the Library's legal 
> requirement is to be, in essence, the 'last one standing' when (not 
> 'if') all other facilities go out of this business.  We cannot depend 
> on commercial entities always being there.  So we will continue to 
> acquire equipment by either purchase or donation that we have 
> identified as necessary to migrate the millions of tapes in our 
> collection.  We may not be able to restore them to operating condition 
> soon, but at least we will have them to restore should the budget 
> situation change or we get a donation to do the work.  If we don't 
> collect the equipment, no amount of money in creation exists to 
> recreate these machines from scratch. We're currently in a narrow 
> window of time to acquire machines before they are lost forever to 
> dumpsters and metal recyclers, and since we have storage space we will 
> do so.  Since the Culpeper building was built with over $200 million 
> in donated funds from the Packard Humanities Institute, it is not 
> outside the realm of possibility that other donors will step in where 
> the House of Representatives has so firmly stepped out.  We will be 
> ready should that donor or donors arrive.
>
> To Ed Reitan:  we agree with you and James O'Neal that an AVR-1 would 
> be an excellent addition to our stable of equipment. Obviously, one 
> that actually runs would be preferable, and one that comes with spare 
> parts and manuals even more so.  We will be happy to put it to good 
> use should it arrive in working condition.  We will be happy to 
> restore a non-working machine when we can get the funding.  We have 
> 135,000 2" tapes alone, including some of the seminal programming in 
> the history of U.S. television.  We are keenly aware that we need to 
> get it digitized sooner rather than later.  The people in Congress who 
> fund us, not so much.
>
> We are also looking for esoteric 2" machines (IVC-9000 and the Sony 
> helical for example), 1" machines (IVC, Ampex, Sony, and other 
> pre-Type C machines plus NTSC and PAL Type B machines), Sony 
> 9800-series and BVU series 3/4" decks, 1/2" EIAJ and esoteric decks, 
> ED Beta and other Betamax decks, Sony HDD-1000 and HDV-1000 1" HD 
> decks, Sony HDV-10 Unihi decks (and manuals, test tapes and spare 
> parts), WVHS HD decks (again, also the manuals spare parts), 
> VHS/SVHS/DVHS decks (specifically the BR-S600/800 and BR-S622/822 
> series from JVC, any DVHS deck), plus a large list of other video and 
> audio decks and equipment such as Dolby 150 and 350 series noise 
> reduction equipment.
>
> We're glad folks are interested in what's going on with us.  Just 
> remember that anything you hear or read is hearsay unless we confirm 
> or clarify.  This industry is well known for rumor, but rumor is not 
> fact.
>
> And please write your Senators and Congressman if you believe the 
> Library's mission of preserving America's recorded cultural heritage 
> for future generations is important and tell them the NAVCC's 
> technical and migration personnel budgets should be a top priority for 
> funding at higher levels.  Go to www.congress.gov to find their web 
> pages.  Some will listen.  Some will not.  Vote accordingly in the 
> next election should you consider it important enough.
>
> That's your peak in to the Trials of Job for today.  Keep calm and 
> carry on....
>
> James
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> James Snyder
> Senior Systems Administrator
> Library of Congress -
>   National Audio Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC)
> Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)
> Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation
> http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/packard/
> 19053 Mt. Pony Road
> Culpeper, VA  22701
>
> Member: AES, AMIA, IASA, IEEE, NATAS, SMPTE, WEBE
>
> Frequency Coordinator - National Capital area
> Acting frequency coordinator - Baltimore & greater Maryland
>
>> Hi Ed:
>>
>> I've had several first-hand reports recently about the state of the 
>> LOC operation and what they are (or are not) doing.  Given the 
>> magnitude of the quad transfer work that exists, there's little 
>> evidence of any serious attempt to get the job done. They apparently 
>> do not have the technical expertise to repair and maintain the 
>> machines they have which include a large number of quads that have 
>> been donated and are simply collecting dust. Under these 
>> circumstances, it's hard to imagine what they would do with an 
>> AVR-1.  I hope my assessment is wrong, and I'd very much welcome any 
>> news that indicates otherwise.
>>
>> Don
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <mailto:ereitan at novia.net>Ed Reitan
>> To: <mailto:quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>Quad List
>> Cc: <mailto:ereitan at novia.net>Ed Reitan
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2013 4:30 PM
>> Subject: Re: [QuadList] Library of congress and quads
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Guys,
>>
>> About a year ago, James O'Neal of Television Technology contacted me. 
>> He wanted to know if I knew of an Ampex AVR-1 that could be directed 
>> to the LOC.
>> He was suggesting to them that they should have an AVR- 1 in their 
>> restoration stable.
>> I am truly surprised that the LOC is using 2000's instead of the much 
>> better performing AVR-1.
>> Can we work together to get an AVR-1 to them?
>>
>> Ed Reitan
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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