Bertram Lyons will answer questions relating to archiving and preserving family history and stories: analog and digital.

Mr. Lyons is an archivist at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress in Washington. He manages digital archives relating to folklife, including StoryCorps, which records and collects oral histories, some of which are broadcast on NPR. In addition to academic workshops, he participates in public outreach, answering questions from people interested in preserving audio and visual material in analog and digital media, as well as related documents.

Most recently, he was asked to be the editor of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, an organization which aims to share best practices in the management of audiovisual materials internationally. He is a member of the executive board of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives as editor of all the association’s publications. He received his master’s degree in museum studies from the University of Kansas in 2009.

Among the questions Mr. Lyons is prepared to answer:

  • How do I digitize my collection of records and tapes?
  • What is the best format for saving my recordings?
  • My mother gave me her grandmother’s birth certificate. What should I do with it?
  • I want to scan my photos. What resolution should I use? What should I not do?
  • People don’t ask, but should: What is the best way to keep it around for a long time?
  • I have an old blog that I let expire. Does this exist anywhere on the Internet?
  • How about my status updates on Facebook? Can they be preserved?
  • Or photos I post on Tumblr? Should I be trying to catalog or save them?
  • My father died and we have access to his e-mail. What should we do with all those messages?

Please leave your questions in the comments section. Answers to selected questions will be posted on Booming on Wednesday, June 5.