ULA Annual Conference 2026

Auditing digitized AV files is essential for ensuring accuracy and preservation, but our early approach was anything but efficient. We started with spreadsheets and formulas to compare filenames and descriptive metadata, paired with separate tools for technical metadata checks—a process that was slow and prone to human error. To speed things up, we introduced small scripts for individual tasks, then refined each by identifying the essential steps for a comprehensive audit, and eventually combined them into a single, streamlined tool that verifies filenames against spreadsheets and audits technical metadata in one pass.

When imaging AV media became part of our workflow, new standards demanded additional checks for image files. Instead of introducing additional manual steps, we expanded our script to handle these requirements too, creating a unified solution for auditing across formats. Today, this tool saves significant time and ensures consistency, but we’re not stopping here. Future plans include adding progress indicators, notifications, and even rewriting the script in Python for greater flexibility and scalability.

This session will share how we transformed a tedious, manual process into an automated system that supports quality control at scale—and what’s next on the horizon.