Every audiovisual recording is a window: your window to the world
Celebrating World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 27 October 2026
Through film, video and sound recordings we can hear voices from generations past, watch places we have never visited, and experience moments that would otherwise be lost to history. Whether it is an oral history interview, a family holiday captured on a home movie camera, a community event recorded on videotape, or a performance preserved on audio tape, audiovisual heritage allows us to see the world through the eyes and experiences of others.
This year's World Day for Audiovisual Heritage theme, 'Your Window to the World', highlights the unique ability of audiovisual collections to connect people across time, distance and culture. At the State Library of South Australia, these connections are preserved through the work of the Digitisation and Digital Preservation team.
The Library's audiovisual collections span more than a century of recording technologies. Stories are held on film reels, open-reel audio tape, cassette tapes, videotapes, optical discs and a wide variety of other formats. Many of these formats are now obsolete, and the equipment required to play them is increasingly difficult to maintain. In many cases, machines are no longer manufactured, spare parts are scarce, and specialist knowledge is becoming harder to find.
Preserving these collections requires much more than simply pressing "play".
The Library's Audiovisual Preservation team combines specialised skills in film handling, audio and video preservation, digitisation and digital preservation. Staff carefully assess and prepare fragile materials, operate and maintain legacy playback equipment, and use specialist digitisation systems to capture content to archival and international standards. Each recording presents its own challenges, requiring technical expertise and a deep understanding of historical formats and technologies.
Digitisation is an essential step in preserving access to these collections, but it is only the beginning of the journey.
Once digitised, files must be managed, protected and preserved for the long term. Through digital preservation practices, the State Library ensures that digital files remain accessible as technologies change and new generations of users seek to discover and explore the stories they contain. Without ongoing digital preservation, today's digital files risk becoming tomorrow's obsolete media.
Across the world, archives and libraries are racing against time to preserve audiovisual heritage before media deterioration and technological obsolescence make it inaccessible. At the State Library, this work helps safeguard stories of South Australian communities, families, events, cultures and experiences that might otherwise be lost.
On World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, we celebrate not only the recordings themselves, but also the people, skills and technologies that keep them accessible.
Every reel of film, every videotape, every audio recording and every preserved digital file represents another window kept open.
Through digitisation and digital preservation, the stories of yesterday remain available to inform, inspire and connect the generations of tomorrow.
Written by Digitisation and Digital Preservation Team