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.

It 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 increasingly threatened by aging media and obsolete playback equipment.  

Those findings confirmed the need for preservation education and became the foundation for everything that followed. Over the next several months, Minnesota Media Arts and Saint Paul Neighborhood Network developed a free educational program that included an introductory webinar, two hands-on workshops, practical demonstrations, and an online Media Preservation Toolkit.

Together, these resources introduced participants to a preservation philosophy that extends well beyond digital conversion. One message surfaced repeatedly throughout every session:

Media preservation is more than converting tapes to digital files.

Successful preservation begins with understanding your collection—its condition, organization, historical significance, and future purpose. It includes collection care, stabilization, inventory, metadata, digitization, and thoughtful planning for long-term access.

That philosophy became the foundation of our Five-Step Media Preservation Process:

One of the most rewarding parts of the project was watching participants embrace this broader way of thinking. Questions quickly moved beyond equipment and software to topics like collection management, metadata, storage planning, and sharing preserved collections with future audiences.

The workshop provided a wonderful example of that spirit. Thirty participants from libraries, colleges, museums, arts organizations, community media centers, and independent preservation projects gathered for a full day of demonstrations, discussion, and collaboration.

Rather than simply observing, participants shared their own experiences, compared preservation challenges, and learned from one another as much as from the presenters.  To help participants continue their work after the workshops ended, we also developed an online Media Preservation Toolkit. 

The toolkit includes collection care guides, preservation planning worksheets, an expanded glossary of media preservation terminology, media identification guides, and an updated Audio/Video/Film Inventory Worksheet featuring descriptive and technical metadata fields. Our goal was to provide practical resources that organizations could immediately adapt to their own preservation projects.

One of the most gratifying moments came after the workshops were over.

The University of MN’s Center for Applied Research & Educational Improvement (CAREI) independently evaluated the program and confirmed what we had been seeing throughout the year. Participants reported greater confidence, a better understanding of preservation planning, and a stronger readiness to begin protecting their collections. Most encouraging of all, every participant agreed that completing all five preservation steps leads to better long-term preservation outcomes.  

Perhaps the biggest lesson I take away from this project is that media preservation is ultimately about people. Technology will continue to evolve. New file formats will replace old ones. Equipment will come and go. But the stories captured on those recordings—the performances, interviews, community meetings, family histories, and creative works—remain an irreplaceable part of Minnesota’s cultural heritage.

I’d like to thank everyone who participated in our survey, attended a webinar or workshop, contributed to the discussions, and shared their preservation experiences with us. Your enthusiasm helped create something much more valuable than a series of educational events. Together, we’ve strengthened a growing community committed to preserving Minnesota’s audiovisual history. Although this grant-funded initiative has concluded, the work certainly hasn’t. Minnesota Media Arts will continue to expand educational resources, refine our online Media Preservation Toolkit, and explore future workshops and partnerships that support preservation efforts throughout the state.

Because preserving our history isn’t just about saving old recordings.

It’s about ensuring that the voices, memories, and stories they contain remain accessible for generations to come.

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The Community Media Preservation Strategies & Archiving Workshops are a partnership between Minnesota Media Arts and Saint Paul Neighborhood Network.

This program has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.