SCRC’s 2025 Media Preservation Shipment
by Tony Carbone, SCRC Collections Manager
Special collections and archives are staffed with individuals in unique roles with specialized skillsets for the complete care of our materials. The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) has hundreds of thousands of rare books and print publications, and thousands of archival collections in a wide variety of formats including a range of audio and visual media. To manage the storage, transportation, inventorying and record keeping of the collections, as well as general ongoing maintenance, we sometimes seek the help of vendors to provide access to and care for our collections. Syracuse University Libraries’ digitization vendor is The Media Preserve.
The SCRC team consists of multiple functional specialists who collaborate to choose and carefully package selected media assets for our ongoing preservation and digitization efforts. In early January we successfully packed a total of 2,556 items in 105 bins on four pallets to ship to our vendor. We were able to complete the project ahead of our deadline thanks to the teamwork of our staff. The process involves Sean Horsford, Digital Media Librarian, and Michael (Mike) Dermody, Digital Preservation Librarian, who provide expertise and recommendations on which items to select. Ron Figueroa, Manager of the Syracuse University Library Facility (our off-site storage facility), and his team provide timely retrievals of the selected media and use of their processing room. And Ivayla (Iva) Roleva-Peneva, Media Preservation Archivist from SCRC, leads the preparation and packing of the shipment.
Pictured above: The 2025 Media Preserve shipment, stacked on pallets and securely shrink-wrapped, ready to depart SU Libraries’ for The Media Preserve.