摘要：The National Library of Australia has embarked on a program of digital conversion of its large and important Oral History collections. The Library has been using and investigating digital recording and editing facilities since 1991. Responding to the benefits offered by digital technology, and recognising the need to transfer from analogue to digital to maintain access, the Library initiated the purchase of a digital system in early 1996. The new system addresses the medium term requirements of digital audio archiving; its design also includes the possibility of automated migration to later digital archiving systems, including possible mass storage.The system, managed by the Sound Preservation and Technical Services (SPATS) unit - part of the Library's Preservation Services function - uses a network of computer hard disk-based Digital Audio Workstations writing to recordable CD (CD-R), analogue reel-to-reel tape and analogue access cassettes. As procedures develop, it is likely that the analogue components of the current system will be dropped in favour of full digitisation. The size of the collection and the conversion task mean that even with the full digitisation of current procedures the collection is likely to contain analogue tapes for many years to come.This paper provides some of the context for this project and the planning processes involved in the decision to digitise. The process is then described, with some discussion of advantages and disadvantages, and some issues for the future.
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