Organization
Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC)
Address
50-950 West 41st Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 2N7
Canada
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Supervising Librarian/Archivist
Name: Ada Alster
Email: adaalster@vhec.org
Purpose of the project:
This project builds on previous ARST 596 placements at the VHEC, continuing a focused effort on the Centre’s audio-visual holdings. This project will prioritize the digitization, description, and preservation of materials for inclusion in the CBC Audio-Visual Collection.
The CBC Audio-Visual Collection consists of audio and video recordings produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that document Holocaust history, survivor testimony, postwar justice, and commemoration. The collection includes cassette tapes and VHS recordings primarily from the 1990s to early 2000s.
The primary goal of this project is to enhance access to this media collection by digitizing selected CBC VHS tapes, applying archival standards for description, and implementing strategies for long-term preservation and public access. These activities align with the VHEC’s broader mandate to make Holocaust-related resources available for education, remembrance, and research.
A key achievement of a previous project was identifying, creating, and making part of the CBC collection accessible through the VHEC’s online catalogue, focusing on CBC audio-cassette recordings. This project will build on that work focusing on VHS tapes adding to the volume of publicly available materials in this collection and further this medias digital preservation.
Summary of activities required to carry out the project:
- Digitize selected CBC VHS tapes using VHEC’s in-house equipment
- Conduct post-digitization quality control
- Migrate files to preferred preservation and access formats
- Create RAD compliant archival descriptions
- Carry out digital preservation tasks including generating MD5 checksums and exporting and documenting descriptive and preservation metadata
- Create entries in the VHEC’s CollectiveAccess web-based content management system
- Support appraisal activities and make deaccession recommendations and decisions
Expectations of the end result of the project, for both host and student:
For host:
Additional CBC records will be described and uploaded to the VHEC CMS, advancing the Centre’s digital preservation goals.
For student:
The student will gain hands-on experience digitizing media (e.g., VHS), performing quality control, writing RAD descriptions, assessing rights and preservation levels, and using digital preservation tools (e.g., terminal, ExifTool).
Time periods in which the project could be supervised:
- Winter Term 1 (September – December)
- Winter Term 2 (January – April)
- Summer Session, Term 1 (May – June)
Is there a deadline by which the project must be completed?
No deadline, as timelines are flexible based on student availability.
Considering the project requirements, please suggest suitable coursework as pre-requisite or co-requisite:
- ARST 515 Arrangement and Description of Archival Materials
- ARST 550 Management of AV, Non-Textual Archives (preferred)
- ARST 555 The Preservation of Digital Records (preferred)
Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis.