2013 Charleston Conference

While the volume and importance of video content on the web is growing exponentially and users are engaging with video content in unprecedented ways, rich video assets from academic institutions remain hidden and inaccessible on college campuses and invisible to the wider world. Digital video clips sit siloed and on hard drives and are not cataloged. VHS tapes and reels of 16mm film are boxed in archives, faculty offices and storage facilities. By making video content more discoverable and accessible, institutions have an unprecedented opportunity to showcase their rich heritage and enhance teaching and research for future generations on campus and as part of the global academic community.

The expertise of academic libraries with digital archiving and description of large and diverse digital collections suggests that the curation of institutional video is a natural role for them. By addressing this growing body of video content, the library can play a key role in showcasing the content’s relevance on campus and beyond. But video competes for this library expertise with local print archives and with Institutional Repository needs. Curating video assets effectively will require the development of scalable solutions that address the volume and complexity of institutional media (including lecture captures), the diversity of media and file formats, rights management, and special closed captioning and accessibility requirements.

ProQuest recently completed a pilot project with seven academic libraries where we used automated transcriptions to index video content and enhance its discoverability and usability. Participants will talk about their own experiences and lessons learned from the project and share their unique perspectives about curating and showcasing institutional video assets. An interactive best practices discussion will ensure that attendees come away with fresh, current insights about showcasing their institutions’ rich and unique video assets.