A video library is a collection of video tapes . These magnetic tapes are recordings that record sounds and images .
The space that stores this type of materials is known as a video library. It can be said that video libraries store videos just as libraries store books or film libraries store films .
The purpose of a video library is to preserve, organize, catalog and make audiovisual documents known . For a long time , these files implied the existence of videocassettes or videotapes , with which video libraries collected these objects.
With the advancement of technology , however, video systems began to use discs and thus CDs and DVDs became popular. Then, with the rise of digitization, recordings became virtual , being stored on computers (computers) or on servers accessible through the Internet .
These changes affected the reality of video libraries. Nowadays these spaces usually contain much more than video cassettes, since their essence lies in the collection and dissemination of audiovisual records , regardless of their format .
The operation of video libraries may vary depending on each institution. In many cases, partners or interested parties in general can request the loan of the material. In other entities, the videos must be viewed on site. There are also video libraries that organize film screenings through thematic cycles.
It should be noted that there are video libraries without physical existence. The video library of the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library , for example, has more than 2,640 digitized videos that are related to literature and can be viewed via the Internet .
Today, many people have a large number of movies and other content in video format, such as recitals and documentaries, in media ranging from VHS cassettes to Blu-ray, including digital files. For them, this heritage is invaluable and for this reason it is necessary to keep it in good condition.
The first step is to sort and organize all the content, a task that in certain cases can take a lot of time and effort. Thanks to the possibility of purchasing these products in digital format, collectors can have much more in less physical space . You no longer have to worry about filling your furniture, attic or basement with cassettes and records, but rather about getting a series of hard drives or SSDs of sufficient capacity.
Of course, the digital age is not perfect either: while it allows us to leave behind concerns about physical space, disks do not last forever and are in fact prone to failure. Broadly speaking, we can say that hard drives are less reliable than SSDs (solid state drives), but they allow many more read and write cycles . Another considerable difference is the price: the former are much cheaper, which is why they tend to be the public's favorite option.
To maintain the video library, therefore, it is necessary to ensure that all the content can be played : clean the tapes and disks, make backup copies if we think they are about to reach the end of their useful life and take care that the files digital devices are not corrupted are some of the most common steps.
The organization of content can be done in many ways, both on paper and with the help of a computer program. The first thing is to decide how we want to organize the video library, that is, with what criteria: by alphabetical order, by publication date, with subclassifications by genre or country of origin, etc. There are those who also create brief files for each video , where they include a synopsis, the cast or other complementary information.