More Than Digitization - Building Minnesota’s Media Preservation Community
Archiving Workshops: What We Learned. Posted by Ron McCoy | July 2026 Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of meeting librarians, museum professionals, artists, archivists, educators, filmmakers, and community historians from across Minnesota— all connected by a common goal: preserving the stories entrusted to their care. As our Community Media Preservation Strategies & Archiving Workshops come to a close, I’ve been reflecting on what we’ve learned together. Although this project focused on audiovisual preservation, it became something much larger—a statewide conversation about safeguarding Minnesota’s cultural heritage. I t all began with a simple question: How much at-risk audiovisual media exists in Minnesota? Our statewide AV Media Preservation Survey provided an eye-opening answer. More than 55 organizations and individuals responded, identifying over 98,000 audiovisual assets— including videotapes, audiotapes, film, photographs, and slides—that are i...
