Strategies for Copying Out-of-Print Works: NYU's "Video At Risk" Project

Howard Besser will discuss the Mellon-sponsored "Video At Risk" (VAR) project, paying particular attention to findings and strategies that might prove useful to other libraries. Among the topics he will cover as well as discuss methodology for are: VAR's studies that have shown that a significant number of mass-produced works purchased by academic libraries for their circulating libraries are now both out-of-print and held by few libraries; VAR's guidelines for interpreting Section 108 copyright laws and experiments to support claims around "deterioration"; the severe problems with inconsistent cataloging in OCLC records; and the development of guidelines for digital reformatting of video. He may also discuss the development of an open-source tool for extracting metadata in a manageable form from digital video files.