Connecting to Collections Care

Good Afternoon,

Luisa is correct AD Strips will be the best method for assessing condition. I would suggest starting with trying to assess your oldest film first (if you can determine that by shooting/acquisition records) and/or housing or some other dating method. Also if you have primary copies versus use/secondary copies start with those. In addition your survey should include if the film is polyester or not. Light piping (if polyester when you hold reel up to a light source it will have light "piping" through it as opposed to being opaque) is another way to reduce what is acetate. In the broader term you will need cool/cold storage so your survey can establish the need for it. Feel free to email me if you have questions - we surveyed 250k primary reels to get them prioritized for moving to cold storage. - Andrew

Thanks Luisa and Andrew. We do have AD Strips so I will coordinate with our Conservation Department on best methods to use those in determining the severity/scope of the issue. We have used a consecutive number generation process when assigning a tracking number to film when it was created so we can use that as a reference point for determining which reels are the oldest. Thanks for the info about the "piping" too. As you can imagine this is a daunting task, but one we know we need to address now to prevent it from becoming a larger one. If I have any additional questions, I will be sure to reach out.