sound archives
Stored audio collections
Sound archives are collections of audio recordings preserved for historical, cultural, or research purposes.
They may include music, speeches, oral histories, radio broadcasts, field recordings, or other sonic material: The library's sound archives contain recordings of indigenous languages no longer spoken.
Institutions maintain sound archives to document and make accessible the auditory record of human experience.
- music recordingsStored audio performances
- digitizationAnalog-to-electronic transformation
- historical researchSystematic study of past events
- national librariesCountry-level book repositories
- catalogingSystematic organization into records
media library · ethnomusicology · oral histories · field recordings · voice recordings · audio preservation · interviews · radio broadcasts · speeches · transcription services · education · museums · listening room · cultural preservation · public domain · playback devices · broadcasting corporations · magnetic tape
- mediatelevision, mass media, news, broadcasting, video
- media collectionsmedia library, video library, music collection, film library, digital library
- library collectionsrare books, manuscripts, medieval manuscripts, illuminated manuscripts, first editions
- media archivesnewsreels, news footage, raw footage, film reels, historical recordings
- music archivesmanuscripts, electronic music, pop music, sheet music, phonograph records
- music resourcessheet music, music theory, scores, music education, metronome
sound archivesvideo archives
Organized stored recordings
film archives · image archives · picture libraries · television archives · film libraries
sound archiveslive performance
Unrecorded staged entertainment
live broadcasts · live broadcast · live performances · streaming audio · oral tradition