Sound Recording Collections Survey

[posted on behalf of William R. Vanden Dries ]

I am designing an online tool to be used by institutions and individuals possessing or researching sound recording collections. The tool is in direct response to a recommendation in a recently published report by the Library of Congress, the National Recording Preservation Plan [http://loc.gov/today/pr/2013/13-014.html]. The recommendation calls for a sound recording collections directory that includes both institutional organizations' collections and private collectors' collections.

I am a Master's student at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information, studying archives and preservation. In addition to meeting the recommendation of the report by the Library of Congress, I am designing this tool for an independent study course.

To better design the tool for use by institutions and their staff, I am gathering information about institutions and their sound recording collections through a survey. A separate survey is designed to gather information about individuals possessing sound recording collections. I received help finalizing the surveys from members of the archive, library, private collector, dealer, and information science communities.

As caretakers of and providers of access to sound recording collections, input from the archives community is very valuable in guiding the design of this tool. We hope that the archives community is well-represented in the survey results. If your archive currently holds collections containing sound recordings, please consider taking the survey.

Both surveys can be taken online and will be open for responses until November 11. The links to access the surveys are directly below.

The surveys are open to individuals, institutions and organizations located in any country.

Survey link for institutions:
https://utexas.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eqyGBN6nFMMBh9r

Survey link for collectors:
https://utexas.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bwlWlsL4TuSoLMF

If both surveys apply to you, there are no restrictions to prohibit you from taking both. Once you finish taking the first survey, a link will be provided if you would like to take the second survey as well. Or, you can follow each link in this email to access the two surveys.

My sincerest thanks in advance,

William R. Vanden Dries
MSIS Candidate, University of Texas at Austin School of Information
Chairman, Audio Preservation Fund
Graduate Research Assistant, Applied Research Laboratories
Student Technician, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center