Archiving and preservation consists of technology, people and policies. For technology in particular, digital AV archives are largely indebted and beholden to a few sizable industries: cinema, broadcast, and information technology. Commercial interests catering to the aforementioned industries have produced a seemingly attractive toolset that has the potential to provide archives with the ability to apply their policies in service of preservation-oriented workflows. Yet, even in the hands of larger well-resourced organisations, employing these tools can be challenging and resource intensive. How can smaller, resource-constrained AV archives efficiently apply cost effective tools and technologies to their workflows? This article by Kara Van Malssen was originally published in AV Insider, Issue 2, September 2012