Patent ID: 7302435

Claim:
A method for managing a plurality of content items comprising: storing a library of content items in a storage medium; checking out at least one storage volume of a plurality of storage volumes by marking the at least one storage volume as having been checked out, the at least one storage volume marked so as to facilitate locating and retrieving the storage volume after some time has passed; checking in the at least one storage volume; if no content items fivm the library of content items were stored on the at least one storage volume when the at least one storage volume was checked out, determining whether any new content items are stored on the at least one storage volume when the at least one storage volume is checked in and updating the library with any new content items; and if one or more content items from the library of content items were stored on the at least one storage volume when the at least one storage volume was checked out, determining whether any new or changed content items are stored on the at least one storage volume when the at least one storage volume is checked in and updating the library with any new or changed content items, wherein, if one or more content items from the library are to be stored on the at least one storage volume when the at least one storage volume is checked out storing one or more content items from the library on the at least one storage volume comprises: locating at least one requested content item in the library copying the at least one requested content item onto the at least one storage volume; and marking the at least one requested content item as having been checked out, the at least one content item marked so as to facilitate locating and retrieving the content item after some time has passed; determining whether two or more content items from the library of content items were stored on the at least one storage volume when the at least one storage volume was checked out, upon determining two or more content items were stored on the storage volume, the step of determining whether any new or changed content items are stored on the at least one storage volume when the at least one storage volume is checked in and updating the library with any new or changed content items, comprises: determining, for each content item of the two or more content items when the at least one storage volume is checked in, whether the content item has been altered; marking, for each content item of the two or more content items that are determined to have not been altered when the at least one storage volume is checked in, the content item as having been checked in; and archiving, for each content item of the two or more content items that are determined to have been altered when the at least one storage volume is checked in, the altered content item in the library as a new version of the content item.