Members of the university community create many kinds of information beyond textual documents. Photographs, moving images, and sound recordings all serve as direct and powerful communications tools that can reach and inform many people. In general, the Bentley uses the term audiovisual (AV) to refer to materials that are non-textual and that contain sound and pictorial attributes. AV is also used to describe the processes used to capture, record, transmit, or reproduce sound or images.

It is critical that AV materials are identified with captions or other notes. Persons, places, dates, or circumstances that seem familiar today easily fade into obscurity tomorrow. Providing captions or descriptive metadata does not have to be affixed to the materials themselves but may be maintained in an appendix document. To assist in this process, units are encouraged to use the AV Metadata Requirements Template.