Will Prentice
British Library

This workshop will be led by Will Prentice.

In this thorough introduction to the preservation of sound archives, we will cover the following areas:

• The basic history of audio recording technology, covering all common formats
• How sound is represented visually
• An introduction to the technical principles underlying different formats, and why this is important
• Identification of different formats and their pertinent characteristics, from a preservation perspective
• Practical, hands-on guidance in how best to handle and care for audio carriers, including examples for attendees to handle themselves
• An introduction to preservation planning and strategy, in particular digitisation for preservation.

This workshop aims to demystify essential concepts in caring for sound collections. As such it is aimed at any archivist with responsibility for caring for audio. _LOGO_BLOCK_ The workshop is organized in cooperation with CERGE-EI, National Museum and National Library of Technology.

Will Prentice has worked for the British Library sound archive since 1999, where he is currently Training & Dissemination Manager on the HLF Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project.

He is Vice Chair of the International Association of Sound & Audiovisual Archives (IASA) Training & Education Committee, and a member of the IASA Technical Committee, for whom he recently co-edited the recently republished The Safeguarding of the Audiovisual Heritage: Ethics, Principles & Preservation Strategy (2017), aka IASA-TC 03.

He was the founding convenor of British & Irish Sound Archives (BISA), and sat on its Committee from 2006 – 2018. He holds a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from Goldsmiths, University of London.