Dive Brief:
- The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has started converting its library of 5,000 VHS tapes into searchable digital files.
- The project is expected to take up to 10 years, Campus Technology reports.
- The university began digitizing all of its classrooms, including phasing out VHS players and replacing them with digital media players, in 2011.
Dive Insight:
This is an issue that many higher education institutions deal with, not just with VHS, but also with compact discs, which in some cases can deteriorate even faster. VHS tapes have a shelf life of 30 to 40 years. Once the videotapes have been digitally encoded and meta-tagged, they will be imported to Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite Enterprise Video Platform, and the whole library will be searchable. The university’s VHS footage includes La Crosse history of the early 1900s, visits from U.S. presidents, and football films from the 1950s.