Condition Reports

Critical to any preservation project is the keeping of records about the condition of materials being preserved. Documentation should be created at each phase of the process: tapes should be physically inspected before being reformatted, actions taken during the reformatting process should be recorded, and remastered tapes should be periodically inspected for signs of deterioration. (For more information on inspection, see the Best Practices section of this website.)

The forms below are examples of the ways in which this information can be recorded. Most institutions have forms like these that have been modified to suit their needs.

About the document sources

IMAP

Independent Media Arts Preservation, Inc. (IMAP) is a nonprofit service, education, and advocacy organization committed to the preservation of non-commercial electronic media. IMAP has grown from a New York-based consortium of arts organizations and individuals to a national resource for preservation training, information, and advocacy.

Bay Area Video Coalition

Founded in 1976, Bay Area Video Coalition, or BAVC (pronounced "bay-vac") is a nonprofit media arts center that provides access to video technology, sponsors video projects, and provides restoration and preservation services for obsolete videotape formats.

Matters in Media Arts

Curators, conservators, registrars and media technical managers from New Art Trust, MoMA, SFMOMA, and Tate, have formed a consortium to establish best practice guidelines for care of time-based media works of art (for example, video, slide, film, audio and computer-based installations). The Matters in Media Arts website offers extensive resources related to the exhibition of media art.