Audiovisual Archives

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
8/20/2019 Audiovisual Archives
Recommended catalogue entry:
Harrison, Helen P.
Audiovisual archives : a practical reader / edited and compiled by Helen P. Harrison [for the ]
General Information Programme and UNISIST. - Paris : UNESCO, 1997. - xi, 429 p. ; 30 cm. -
(CII-97/WS/4)
II -’ UNESCO, General Information Programme and UNISIST
0 - UNESCO, 1997
1
Ray Edmondson et al.
Philosophy of A Vdrchiving.
Wolfgang Klaue (I 989)
Curriculum Development Working Party, 1990
28
Grace Koch, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies,
Canberra, Australia 1993.
40
43
Birgit Kojler
Catherine F Pinion
Michael Henry 1994
Helen P Harrison, rapporteur of meeting
68
George Boston
MANAGEMENT
Rolf Schuursma
Sam Kula
Helen P Harrison
Anne Hanford,
Royal Television Society
3.1 Oral History
Peter Mazikana and William Moss
SECTION IV SELECTION AND APPRAISAL
4.1 Archival Appraisal
Helen P Harrison
Helen P Harrison, Media Library Consultant, Open University, UK
4.3 Archival Appraisal of Moving Images
Sam Kula
Sam Kula
4.5 Recommended Standards and Procedures for Selection for Preservation of
Television Programme Material
SECTION V DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
5.1 Introduction to FIAF Cataloguing Rules
Harriet W Harwon, Library of Congress
5.2 The Special Problems of Cataloguing Moving Images in an Archive
Harriet W Harrison
80
80
86
93
98
103
103
113
126
126
144
153
157
162
177
177
184
5.3 Final Report on the Minimum Level of Description of a Sound Recording for an
entry in a Catalogue or a Discography August 18, 1988
Mary McMullen
Documentation Committee Publication Project
194
Helen P Harrison
Rainer Hubert,
221
Roger Smither, Keeper of Film and Television, Imperial War Museum
221
7.1 Film Archives
250
Gerald D Gibson, Library of Congress
259
7.4 Permanence, Care, and Handling of CDs including CD-ROM, Writable CD, and
Kodak Photo CD
272
7.5 Preservation of Audio and Video Materials in Tropical Countries
Dietrich Schtiller, Phonogrammarchiv, Vienna
Formats Suitable for Archival Purposes
Dietrich Schiiller
7.7 Strategies for the Safeguarding of Audio and Video Materials
in the Long Term
Dietrich Schiiller, Phonogrammarchiv, Vienna
Henning Schou
313
Harald Brandes a:jd Eva Orbanz
324
Cor L. Doesburg NOB, Hilversum
333
Dietrich Schiiller, Phonogrammarchiv, Vienna
George Boston
George Boston
348
11.2 Long Term Strategies foi Elect .Qnic Documents - Report from a Swedish Study
11 Augus: 1995
Gerald D Gibson,
13.1 New Media Require Specialized Archivists
Wolfgang Klaue, Staatliches Filmarchiv der D.D.R., Berlin
13.2 Training Needs For AV Archivists
Curriculum Development Working Party
Technical Co-ordinating Committee
Helen P Harrison
358
364
363
371
378
384
398
402
409
415
iv
CONTENTS LIST
SECTION I. INTRODUCTION TO AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES
1.1 Harrison, Helen. Audiovisual archives. 1996.
1.2. Edmondson, Ray. Nature of the AV Media. In: A Philosophy of Audiovisual
Archiving (Draft Two), by Ray Edmondson and members of AVAPIN (Audiovisual
Archiving Philosophy Interest Network) unpublished, Canberra, 1995
1.3 Edmondson, Ray. Worldview and paradigm. In: A Philosophy of Audiovisual
Archiving (Draft Two), by Ray Edmondson and members of AVAPlN (Audiovisual
Archiving Philosophy Interest Network) unpublished, Canberra, 1995
1.4 Klaue, Wolfgang. Audiovisual records as archival materials. In: Proceedings of
the 1 th International Congress on Archives, Paris 22-26 August 1988. Archivum vol.
XXXV, 1989. pp 69-74
1.5 Curriculum Development Working Party. General principles of av archiving. In:
Curriculum development for the training of personnel in moving image and recorded
sound archives. PGI-90/WS/9. UNESCO, Paris, 1990. pp. 14-18
TYPOLOGY
1.6 Koch, Grace. A typology of media archives. Paper presented in 1993.
1.7 Edmondson, Ray. The AV archive: definition and typology. In: A Philosophy of
Audiovisual Archiving (Draft Two), by Ray Edmondson and members of AVAPIN
(Audiovisual Archiving Philosophy Interest Network) unpublished, Canberra, 1995
LEGAL ISSUES IN AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES
1.8 Kofler, Birgit. Legal issues facing audiovisual archives. PGI-91/WS/5. UNESCO,
Paris, 1990 (extracted).
1.10 Henry, Michael. Copyright, neighbouring rights and film archives. In: Journal of
Film Preservation, FIAF no. 49, October 1994. pp. 2-9
1.11 UNESCO Minutes of AV copyright meeting report. December 5-6 1994.
ETHICAL ISSUES
1.12 Edmondson, Ray et al. Ethics. In: A Philosophy o f Audiovisual Archiving (Draft
Two), by Ray Edmondson and members of AVAPIN (Audiovisual Archiving Philosophy
Interest Network) unpublished, Canberra, 1995
1.13 Boston, George. Ethics and new
technology. In: IFLA Journal,
pp 211-212
2.1
Schuursma, Rolf. Approaches to the national organisation of sound archives.
In: Sound archives, a guide to their establishment and development, edited by David
Lance. Vienna, IASA, 1983. pp. l-9
2.2 Kula, Sam. History and Organisation of moving image archives. In: , Sam.
The archival appraisal of moving images: a RAMP study with guidelines. PGI-
83/WS.18. UNESCO, Paris, 1983. pp. 5-18
2.3 Harrison, Helen. Records Management. In: Harrison, Helen P. The archival
appraisal of sound recordings and related materials: a RAMP study with guidelines.
PGI-87/WS/l. UNESCO, Paris, 1987.
programme archives. London, Royal Television Society, 1992.
SECTION III. ORAL HISTORY
3.1 Lance, David. Oral History. In:
Sound archives, a guide to their
establishment and development, edited by David Lance. Vienna, IASA, 1983. pp.
177-192
3.2
Moss, William W and Peter C Mazikana. Archival management of the record.
In: Archives, Oral History and Oral Tradition: a RAMP study. PGI-86/WS/2.
UNESCO, Paris, 1986. pp. l-3,48-61
SECTION IV. SELECTION AND APPRAISAL
4.1
In: The archival appraisal of sound
recordings and related materials: a RAMP study with guidelines.
PGI-87lWSll.
UNESCO, Paris, 1987. pp (extracted)
4.2 Harrison, Helen P. Selection and audiovisual collections. In: IFLA Journal,
Vo121, No. 3, 1995 pp.185-190
4.3 Kula, Sam. The archival appraisal of moving images: a RAMP study with
guidelines. PGI-83/WS. 18. UNESCO, Paris, 1983. pp. (extracted)
4.4
Kula, Sam. Selection policy and selection standards for television archives.
In: Panorama of audiovisual archives, FIAT, BBC Data Publications, 1986. pp. 73-
77
and procedures for selection and preservation of television programme material. In:
FIAT Handbook, FIAT, 1997.
SECTION V DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
5.1. Harrison, Harriet W. Introduction to FIAF Cataloguing Rules and preliminary
notes. In: FIAF Cataloguing rules. Munich, K G Saur, 199 1. pp. ix- , 1 11
5.2 Harrison, Harriet W. The special problems of cataloguing moving images in
an archive. In: Four tasks of film archives -
records of the International Film
Symposium. Tokyo 1990. pp. 103-l 08
vi
l.---.
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/audiovisual-archives 9/442
5.3 McMullen, Mary. Final report on the Minimum level of description of a
sound recording for an entry in a catalogue or discography. August 18 1988.
5.3.1 Miliano, Mary.
and Documentation Committee Publication Project. 1996.
5.4 ,,Harrison, Helen P. Intel,lectual control: Introduction and;conclusion to session.
In: Documents that move and spe.ak: audiovisual archives in the new information age.
Proceedings of a Symposium held by National Archives of Canada, April 3d --.May 3,
1990. K.G. Saur, Munich, 1992:‘~~. 122-126, 152-164.
5.5
Harrison, Helen P. Standards for audiovisual materials. In: Standards for the
International Exchange of Bibliographic Information, edited by I C McIlwaine.
Seminar held at the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, University
College, London 3-l 8 August 1990. Library Association, London, 1991. pp.44-5 1
5.6 Hubert, Rainer.
The cataloguing o f av media. In: IASA Journal, no 2
November 1993. pp. 22-26
6.1 Smither, Roger.
audiovisual archivists. FIAF, Brussels, 1989.
SECTION VII STORAGE HANDLING AND CONSERVATION
FILM
7.1
(The handling and storage of film) In:
Guide io the Basic Technical Equipment required by audio, film and television
archives, edited by George Boston. TCC, Milton Keynes, 1991 pp. 9-l 5
Aurxo
Report for the Technical Co-ordinating committee. TCC, Milton Keynes, 1995
7.3 Gibson, Gerald D. Magnetic tape deterioration: recognition, recovery and
prevention. In: IASA Journal no. 8 November 1996.
7.4
Kodak, Rochester, NY, 12/1995. Reprinted with permission from Eastman Kodak
Company.
7.5 Schtiller, Dietrich. Preservation of audio and video materials in tropical
countries. In: IASA Journal, No. 7 May 1996. pp. 35-45
7.6
Schtiller, Dietrich. Data density versus data security. In: Archiving the
audiovisual heritage: a joint technical symposium of FIAF, FIAT and IASA.
Stiftung
7.7
Strategies for the safeguarding of audio and video
materials in the long term. In: IASA Journal, no.4 November 1994, pp. 58-65
vii
7.8 Clark, Susie. Photographic conservation. Booklet produced by the National
Preservation Office, British Library, London, 199 1
SECTION VIII TECHNICAL PRESERVATION
8.1 Schou, Henning. General definitions used in preservation, In: Guide to the
Basic Technical Equipment required by audio, film and television archives, edited by
Georgti Boston. TCC, Milton Keynes, 1991 pp. 7-8
8.2 Jenkinson, Brian. Televis ion archives. In: Guide to the Basic Technical
Equipment required by audio, film and television archives, edited by George Boston.
TCC, Milton Keynes, 1991 pp 27-37
8.3 Schtiller, Dietrich, Lloyd Stickells and William Storm. Audio archives. In:
Guide to the Basic Technical Equipment required by audio, film and television
archives, edited by George Boston. TCC, Mil ton Keynes, 1991 pp 39-62
SECTION IX TLCHNICAL EQUIPMENT
9.1 Brandes, Harald and Eva Orbanz. Film specific practices and procedures and
equipment. In: Guide to the Basic Technical Equipment required by audio, film and
television archives, edited by George Boston. TCC, Milton Keynes, 199 1 pp 16-26
SECTION X FINANCE
10.1 Doesburg, Cor.
Bulletin, no. 54, July 1989. pp 4-14
10.2 Schtiller, Dietrich. The costs of storage and preservation. In: Phonographic
Bulletin, no. 54, July 1989. pp. 15- 19
SECTION XI FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
11.1 Boston, George. New Technology - Friend or foe? In: IFLA Journal vol 20,
no, 3 1994. pp 331-340
11.1.1 Boston, George. What ‘New Technology’ can be recommended? 1996.
11.2 Lindquist, Mats G.
Long term strategies for electronic documents - report
from a Swedish study. In: IASA Journal, no. 6 November 1995. pp. 33-39
SECTION XII EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
12.1 Gibson, Gerald D.
Emergency preparedness and disaster recovery in
. . .
FOREWORD
The material in this Reader has been compiled under a UNESCO contract by a
working group of the Round Table on Audiovisual Records - a group of NGOs
comprising IASA, FIAF, FIAT, and the audiovisual sections of ICA and IFLA.
In 1990 another working group on Curriculum Development for Sound and Moving
Image archivists consisting of the same associations identified several areas for
improvement in the education and training of these audiovisual archivists. One very
clear and gaping hole was in the provision of literature, advice and guidance of any
sort. The literature may be there, but it is scattered and not all of us can afford or
obtain all the literature which might be of help.
The aim of this collection of material
is to provide in one volume some, but only some, of the most accepted literature
already published.
The Reader is not meant to be definitive or exhaustive - that would take up a very
large volume, but it is aimed at the practical rather than the theoretical aspects of
audiovisual archive work. It aims to provide access to existing published information
for archivists working at a professional level in developed and developing countries,
promote the education and professional training of audiovisual archivists in all
countries and serve as a reference tool in daily work.
Some of the papers appear in full, but many are extracted or edited down from
lengthier booklets. The Editor has had to make some hard choices and provides some
linking comments between the sections.
Material specific archives such as film archives, sound archives, television(video)
archives and photograph archives have been in existence for many years. ‘Audiovisual
archives’, where there is a combination of materials, are a more recent phenomena, but
more and more frequently audiovisual archives collecting more than one of the
materials are being established or additional materials are being introduced into the
existing archives. This might be of necessity where resources are few and one
archive, often the National Archive, has to take responsibility for all materials.
The literature reflects the former situation and much of it concerns one or other of the
audiovisual materials rather than the integrated situation. Many of the sections of the
Reader are divided into material specific chapters.
As the Reader is aimed at professional archivists the technical sections although
extensive has been kept on a suitable level. The aim is simply to ensure that what we
have, or can obtain, we keep in decent conditions designed not to damage and to
conserve the material for some time to come - optimistically as long as possible.
Technical details are designed to show what we are dealing with, how to store, handle
and conserve and when to intervene to restore or preserve . Technicians need not look
here except perhaps at the bibliographies or references for further reading. A further
Technical Manual is needed for the archive technician, or he can already depend for
much information on the series of Joint Technical Symposia which are run regularly
to update technical knowledge.
Layout and Coverage
The Reader consists of a mixture of contributions. A few are original to this
publication, and some were in process of publication when the Reader was compiled.
The main content is of existing papers or sections of publications as indicated in the
Contents List.
1.1 AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES
Helen P Harrison.
Archives exist for the preservation and continuation of the cultural heritage and that
heritage is made from a variety of cultures, past and current civilisations, artefacts,
manuscripts and printed materials and the more recent phenomena of audiovisual
materials and electronic documents.
Human endeavour has long been transmitted by images and the oral tradition: cave
paintings, hieroglyphics, ancient scripts and the passing on of legend and tradition by
word of mouth. Next came the written records - clay tablets, papyrus, manuscripts.
The invention of printing made material more widely available, providing the
recipient could read, and more recently the materials could be recorded on to a visual
or audio format for widespread transmission and distribution.
The audiovisual
materials had arrived.
All these elements are part of the record of the cultural heritage and if they are to
continue to exist require saving, gathering, preserving and/or conserving and they also
need to be accessible to encourage the spread of knowledge.
But who will hold all these treasures - who will be responsible to others, past present
and future, for the collection and safeguarding of the materials? Archives, museums
and libraries all bear responsibility.
Archives exist for the preservation and continuation of the cultural heritage.
Audiovisual media contribute to culture, especially of the nineteenth century, and
even more so of the twentieth and therefore archives for audiovisual materials are
being developed.
What is an archive?
Archives are not just random collections of materials but rather collections which
have been selected for a particular purpose because they represent business, legal or
cultural aspects of life in a certain period of time.
Certain archives are spoken of as
state or government archives, or perhaps even business archives. These are paper
archives, but film and video, sound recordings, photographic archives are not always
necessarily ‘official’ archives in the same sense. There are the State Archives and the
Government Archives, but many were first established independent of a state even
though they had a national responsibility.
Given the technology involved in
audiovisual archives and the material which results, this cultural heritage is mainly
that of the twentieth or the late nineteenth century.
Archives are normally defined as non-current, but permanently valuable records. The
material may be valuable as evidence of legal and administrative transactions and I
obligations, or because of the information it contains which is of value beyond the
reasons for its original creation. This is a traditional view of archives but, as a
prominent archivist has said, the new technology is having a profound effect on
archives and the concepts of archival preservation. Photography, both still and
moving, has had its effect. There is widespread use of sound recording. The
computer had its effect on record keeping and collections management policies. Until
very recently most of the audiovisual archives were in effect single media archives:
film, television or video, sound and photograph archives. Increasingly the archives
1
are combining their interests. Some take responsibility for all recorded materials
moving image, sound and photographs, others take smaller bites and combine one or
two of the materials.
What is an audiovisual archive?
A first reaction is instinctively that it is different from a conventional archive. It may
have the same policies and philosophy and similar aims in the preservation and
collection of a particular slice of human activity.
This slice may be the large one of an
era, century or decade, reflecting the cultural and social life of the times, or it may be a
smaller slice which records on one or more materials a particular aspect of a special
place or a restricted time.
But the collection policies -
security, conservation and preservation of audiovisual materials, are different, or at
least require something of a rethink for the archivist as conventionally seen especially
if the material is to be included in an ‘audiovisual archive’.
The differences between the archival principles of print and audiovisual, of
manuscripts, books and audiovisual materials, can be demonstrated in several areas of
concern.
There is also the question of the differences between the various collecting agencies of
archive, museum and library. All can make use of the technical considerations and
guidelines, not all will have the same collection policies. The differences between the
three professions are no longer so clear as the differences in the agencies involved
may well be.
But even then with the development of audiovisual archives in the only past 10 years
there has been an awareness of the need for specialised archives to deal with
specialised materials. Audiovisual materials do require different policies and
practices, which although they can build upon existing archival principles and
practices have to develop their own. Technical considerations in particular will have a
profound effect upon the audiovisual archives - it is not just a question of preservation
of materials, it has to be a question of continual transfer, copying and restoration of
the originals.
Although the professions are drawing together there is still a difference of degree
rather than a fundamental one. The emphasis may be on exploitation or preservation,
but even this gap is closing as archives realise the value of their material and the
means for exploitation become easier in the form of video or audiocassette or CD
Rom. It is essential to archives that their material is made available if only because
this gives a higher profile to their work which can in turn reap a certain financial
reward to be ploughed back into the archive finances. Archivists can no longer afford
to be philanthropists and must be seen to be economically viable if they are to survive .
But economic gain must be matched with ethical responsibility to donors, users and
material.
Audiovisual archives in existence
Few audiovisual archives have until now claimed to be archives according to the
conventional definition. Where they exist and have been developed independently
they may make just claim, but the world is moving on and the audiovisual archive has
had to fight for recognition -
not so much with other archives, who very often
incorporate the new materials in any case, but with government and national bodies
2
who either ignore them or treat them as upstarts. Areas in which archives have been
widely recognised are those of film and audio, but the struggle has been long and
difficult and dependent upon some very dedicated people. Audiovisual archives are
only in their infancy - single media archives have been more prominent to date, but
the situation is changing rapidly as technologies merge and finance for new projects in
national archives for single materials decreases.
Most single media archives find it
necessary to attach themselves, for better or worse, to existing archives/institutions in
order to survive the financial storms.
They may not hold master materials or original stock and they are seldom, even as
national archives comprehensive even within a particular format or subject area. For
example, national sound archives may be fortunate to obtain a large proportion of the
published material as does the National Sound Archive in the UK, but be relatively
short on unpublished materials unless they have a policy to generate the material
themselves. National film archives are certainly not comprehensive in their coverage,
nor would they claim to be so.
And finally, no one would claim to have a
comprehensive archive of photographic material. The collecting policy may have all
the right intentions, but the market and the available material dictates otherwise.
Material may be unobtainable, unknown, beyond redemption or destroyed. It is a fact
of all audiovisual archivists lives.
An Audiovisual Archive
Audiovisual archives can be as varied as the materials themselves.
The materials can be roughly classified into what we can term ‘visual materials’ - the
moving visuals of film and the still v isuals of photographs - and the ‘sound
recordings’. But having said that we are not a great deal further forward, for moving
visuals can be divided into film and videograms, that is videotape, cassette and even
disc. We cannot ignore videograms as much of the present material which will
become of archival value is only available on a videorecording of some sort. Still
visuals can be expressed as photographs, slides, and further into microforms,
postcards, posters, etc. Not all these materials are necessarily archival and we restrict
ourselves to the photographs in this book. The videodisc or CD-ROM can also be
considered as still visuals or optical recordings, especially when it is used as a
catalogue to a collection of art works or museum objects such as the prints and
drawings collection of the Library of Congress.
There is even a confusion in terms
and definition is an uneasy field at the present time.
Film material has been with us for 100 years, 1996 is its officially designated
centenary year. The first films were produced in the 1890s. Photographic material
has been with us for longer, since the 1830s. Archives of film and photographs are
therefore fairly recent phenomena in terms of many other archive materials, but this
does not mean that they are less of a problem. Far from it.
There are three main types of av archive specializing in a single medium: moving
images, still visuals and sound recordings.
Sometimes we get a combination of audiovisual materials in one setting. Examples of
combined archives are the National Film and Sound Archive in Australia, the British
Library and the National Sound Archive, and the broadcasting companies like
Stiddeutscher Rundfimk in Stuttgart where sound and film archives have recently been
brought under the one administration. Unlike SDR, the BBC has archives of separate
materials under different heads of department and scattered all over London and
beyond, although they are now being brought under one department, they are not
3
In Canada, the National Archives
cover, as their title suggests, the government archives including film, TV, sound and
paper.
The central administration is there, with other heads of department for the
audiovisual materials. There are similar cases in the Library of Congress and the
National Archives in Washington DC. Most of these archives are developing into
function-based archives rather than material or media based archives.
The larger archives could not possibly combine materials together in one department,
the physical functions dealing with each material such as storage, handling and
restoration need separate expertise to deal. with them and therefore have to be split on
this parameter alone.
But there are other functions of collection management which
can be administered throughout all materials, or at least all audiovisual materials:
documentation and information retrieval, and selection, to name but two. Audiovisual
archives however may not be in a similar position - sometimes their stocks are
smaller, but of more materials and the parameters for collection, storage, selection and
documentation may be grouped more closely together.
Storage vaults may have to
accommodate more than one material and the resulting environmental considerations
will be different to those more stringently applied to individual materials. Or, of
course the archive may decide that is incumbent upon them to use the optimum
storage and environmental values as applied to each material. In some ways the
archive dealing with single media is in a more fortunate position in these cases - other
may have to make compromises in order to accommodate all its materials in the same
storage area and environment.
So far we have been talking of archives, but because of the nature of the materials
involved we could be drawn more and more to a second type of collection which
could also be appropriate to consider as an audiovisual archive. This is the collection
of last resort. Audiovisual archives are so often in this category that we should begin
to merge the two types.
Collections of last resort represent the attempt to conserve
copies of material in usable condition - at least for reference purposes - and they
seldom retain archival originals or masters in the accepted sense. They may also be
regarded as the access points for the archives themselves. There are two aspects to
this question. In the first place archives may be in a position to provide their own
access facilities, but that is not always the primary purpose of the archives. Their
main r&on d’he is the preservation of the original product providing access when
no other copies exist in similar condition. The collection of last resort on the other
hand provides more accessible viewing and listening opportunities, using ‘cassette’
copies taken from the originals before deposit.
Preservation considerations
This is the main concern of archives - the conservation of the material in their care.
The nature of the audiovisual materials means that all too often the information has to
be transferred from one material or format to another. Videotape is certainly in this
category. Audiotape may have to be rerecorded or a tape produced from an
unplayable format. Nitrate film has to be transferred to safety stock or it will blow
you, your collection and the surrounding countryside into the next century without
problem or so much as a ‘by your leave’.
Colour film has to be separated and probably
transferred to more stable stock at intervals. By their very nature, therefore, archive
materials in audiovisual formats are rarely masters or originals. But what do you do
with the material you have carefully restored and copied. The increasing tide of
opinion of audiovisual archivists is that wherever possible you should copy material
for use but keep the original in the very best possible conditions in order that as
technology advances and restoration techniques improve you still have the original to
return to when such a circumstance arises. This does mean more storage space - but
the universal panacea for preserving and copying archive material have not yet been
attained.
Other Archival Dimensions
The archival dimension heightens and adds to the usual concerns of audiovisual
collection policy.
Acquisition
This may be the deposit of collections or individual items. It could be purchase, but
this is a special purchase - sometimes at auction (with photographs, for instance).
Archive material is seldom taken off a shelf or paid for over a shop counter.
Evaluation is an important aspect of archival acquisition. The material has to be
evaluated against material in stock, the purpose of the archive, the subject of the
archive and so on.
Selection
The archivist is seldom given a choice of what comes his way. He may receive
material by deposit within the broadcasting companies, or from government
departments for example, or by donation or even purchase. Selection aids are few and
far between; archive material is much more likely ‘just to turn up’. Once material is in
a collection, selection becomes a major facet of an archivist’s job in both film and
photographic archives. You can seldom keep everything and treat it effectively and
you have to apply criteria of selection to control the material. Quality, provenance and
quantity are all important criteria. Have you already got plenty on a particular topic,
or must you keep every last scrap of film on a subject which you can lay hands on?
Archives do have some very stringent archival selection policies - they have to It is
quoted widely that archives select only about 2% of the material presented.
Audiovisual archives should they do that would be shortly out of existence.
Audiovisual archives do not have a huge selection of material but most of the material
is of unique value.
Selection ratios for audiovisual archives are much higher than
those for other archives. Nevertheless the sheer volume of audiovisual material means
that pre-selection is essential. A well known film archivist, when faced with a legal
deposit possibility, however much he would appreciate it, said ‘yes, but I would like to
make the choice of what to receive rather than have the pantechnicon at the door’.
Other Considerations:
Accessioning
This has to be relatively detailed as accessions records will need to have information
about ownership and copyright, as well as the conditions under which the archive
acquires the material and, subsequently, the conditions, of use. Any restrictions of
copyright or contracts have to be entered in an accessions register. And all these
conditions may alter over a period of time,
Storage
of
question
of
will we allow people to borrow the material.
Storage conditions for archives are necessarily more stringent than those for reference
and access collections. In order to provide access and research materials a master
must be preserved or at least a ‘master’ copy for the production of further reference
copies.
Also, storage conditions have to be more stringent for the archive material,
which has to be kept for permanent.
Whatever posterity has or has not done for you or me, some record of our passing will
be of interest to some terrestrial or extraterrestrial being.
Storage conditions are a lively debatable issue in the audiovisual archive world. They
can be very stringent and costly, or less stringent but allow relative accessibility to the
material.
For long-term
preservation only the costliest and most inaccessible conditions may be of use. For
example, film has to be stored to preserve both the image and the colour. Colour film
should be stored at 0°C and/or in separation negatives - that is three negatives, one for
each of the primary colours.
This inevitably is expensive and it takes a great deal of
time to acclimatize the material to a usable temperature or to produce it in a suitable
format. As for videotape, no one is very sure about either its optimum storage
conditions or its expected life.
Many audiovisual archives, especially if they contain mixed materials and formats,
may have to decide upon a compromise solution, e.g.
12°C and 40% relative
humidity, or 16°C and 50% RH. The most important point is to keep the material at
the chosen values and not to allow cycling of environmental conditions. Several
papers in this book address these problems far more knowledgeably than I and I
commend them to you.
Access
‘Access’ and ‘archives’ or ‘preservation’ may appear at first to be contradictory terms.
Part of the archives’ developing role is to increase access to unique (and by that I do
not mean master material). Most audiovisual archivists would like to provide access
services for current use, education and research purposes. A perfectly reasonable
goal. The producer does not make material with archives in mind - he would be
foolish to try and live on archival potential.
Access is a problem for av libraries because playback damages the material.
Videocassette is protected by its casing to some extent, but ask any TV engineer how
much use a 2” broadcast tape is which has been subjected to 20 transmissions and the
answer could be interesting. The more technically perfect the tape the more dropout
and damage can be caused.
Copyright may also provide a deterrent to access of materials.
There is another aspect to access. It is well known that I personally prefer a film
record to a videotape record. I can see film; all right, I cannot view it as it was meant
to be viewed, but if I hold a piece of film up to the light there is a visible record in my
hands of the content recorded on the material. If I hold a piece of videotape, brown or
black, I have no immediate clue as to what it contains, if anything. An archiv ist may
well encounter similar problems. He is preserving on an ‘invisible’ format material he
expects to be replayed in the next century on a machine which no one in that century
may have the slightest idea about.
There are considerable problems of replay on
existing technology. But what about the poor soul who comes along in the year 2050,
looks at a piece of blank brown tape or, indeed, an optical disc, videodisc, CD or CD-
6
ROM - equally blank - and wonders at the curious people of the twentieth century
who produced all this apparently useless material.
Just what do we think we are preserving for posterity? That is the main obsession of
the audiovisual archivist; or if it is not, it should be.
Bibliographic control
Once again bibliographic control of audiovisual archive material is an extension of
normal bibliographic control.
Bibliographic control of archive material meets
problems in the volume of the material encountered, usually in the backlog mode; the
necessity for detailed cataloguing, especially of the unedited, unpublished material
which abounds in archives; and the necessity to catalogue from the copy in hand.
Volume of material
Film material includes feature film, documentary or non-fiction, educational material,
newsfilm and so on. Television includes the same variety. Who is to say what will be
of worth to the future film historian? Sound archives have an equally wide variety
and volume of material. When we come to consider photographs it is virtually
impossible to estimate the number of photographs housed in archives, libraries and
special collections.
Just to stretch the imagination a recent survey of holdings in archives of audio, fi lm
and video archives was carried out by the Library of Congress on behalf o f Eastman
Kodak. The figures were alarming. Even with the most stringent selection criteria
and limited collection resources the results of the holdings of 500 archives
(extrapolated from those answered the survey) amounted to 11 billion 175 million feet
of film, 8.5 million hours of video, and 44.5 million hours of audio. And this was
only from 500 archives. There are many more archives out there. A recent survey of
audiovisual archives in Europe alone Map-TV - Film and Television Collections in
Europe indicated some additional 1900 archives only of film and television.
When we consider photographic material the figures may be even greater.
Photographic collections vary in subject and nature. There are the large collections of
art reproductions, news material and general interest items. One million items is a
relatively small collection,
Only consider the different types of national collections.
There are collections of photographs of art objects which are themselves scattered
throughout galleries and museums; press photograph collections which are huge;
aerial, space or other specialist scientific collections, and architectural records like that
of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Who is to say what is going to be of worth
to the historian or publisher of tomorrow out of these items? They could all be
considered to have some historical or archival significance, whether they record
people who have died, places which have been lost or destroyed or events which will
never be repeated.
Detailed cataloguing
It takes time to catalogue archive material adequately. Archive cataloguing cannot be
cheap and dirty - if it is, one could suggest that there is little point in doing it at all. In
considering archive film there are usually problems of identity which require research
7
to uncover the relevant details. Newsfilm, for example, may depict events and people
unknown to the cataloguer. It has been estimated that to catalogue an archive film of
30 minutes adequately could well use some 4 hours of a cataloguer’s time. The film
has to be viewed. There may be no external clues as to its contents, or the clues may
be positively misleading.
Why do you need such detail? Looking at the apparently endless credits we get on
modem film and television, you begin to wonder if it is worth it. But to wear an
archivist’s hat you have to realize that the apparently obscure, unknown third unit
sound recordist of today may become the award-winning director of tomorrow.
Film should always be catalogued from the copy in hand, and it must be viewed for
archival cataloguing purposes. Detailed cataloguing is required and the following are
some of the essential elements.
Title
Film is known by its title in most cases, especially fiction film. However, the
title may be a catchy and misleading one.
Fiction film is often released under
different titles in different countries. Some film does not have a title as such -
newsfilm and stockshots have to be provided with an objective content description.
Production details
Credits
These also can be lengthy. However, today’s bit part player may become
tomorrow’s ‘megastar’.
Technical specifications
It is vital in an archive to know the state and status of the
copies held. You need to keep a watching brief on the physical condition for
conservation purposes. This should be included in the catalogue entry.
Summary
This, too, is vital for the film researcher. Some (in fact, many) archival
films are incomplete for one reason or another. A detailed content summary may be
needed, and there is always the danger that the cataloguer may not know that the film
is incomplete.
Location number
This is to indicate where the film is housed in the archive, and is
an important finding tool. Film is not shelved in classified order, rather by title for
complete television programmes or feature and documentary films, or even by can
number where several short pieces of film are housed in one can.
A notes section is also needed to indicate where a copy is faulty, its generation, state
of repair, missing sections, etc.
Should bibliographies be based on archives.
3 You will have realized some of the
reasons why audiovisual archives cannot, in their present form and based on their
current collections, produce bibliographies:
2
The detail of the cataloguing means that any catalogue of holdings takes a long
time to produce.
3 It is not 32 to date.
-+ How much use is it if there are restrictions of access?
Lists of holdings are all that an archive can achieve and they are difficult enough.
New technology
The new technology may not provide the final solution for many archivists, but it is an
interim answer for the archivist who believes access to be important.
But technology is always progressing and the problem for the archivist may not
always be the material. The machinery can become obsolete and unusable far more
quickly. What is the point of our preserving material on, for example, videotape or
videodisc if there is no means, or no evident means, of replay available to our
successors and future users?
These are just a few of the starting points for a consideration of audiovisual archives
and their special nature.
Finally audiovisual archives deserve attention from specialised audiovisual archivists.
Many have already come from the ranks of film and audio archives, archivists
themselves have taken on the concerns of their expanding collections and audiovisual
librarians have provided not a few of the personnel of the archives but there is a
profession here which requires education and training in the particular art and craft of
archivism. Policies and practices in av archives will relate to the materials themselves
which are best understood by audiovisual specialists with an archival background and
psyche. Audiovisual archives are here to stay and what the audiovisual archivist
needs to do now is extend his knowledge of archive principles and adapt both them
and the accepted archive, museum and library practices to the growing number of
audiovisual archives which are appearing.
This has been at best an overview of the current situation and the concerns of the
audiovisual archivist . The papers in this Reader have been chosen to provide more
detailed analysis of the specialised aspects of audiovisual archive management.
1.1
During the 1990s the development of a codified philosophy has become a more
urgent concern, for several reasons. First, the obvious and increasing importance of the
AV media as a part of the worlds memory has contrasted ever more starkly with the low
profile and low resourcing of its preservation.
Decades of accumulated practical
experience in AV archives had by now provided a foundation from which to signal more
strongly, by codifying this experience, the consequences of the contradiction.
1.2 Secondly, individual practitioners in AV archives lacked a clear professional identity
and recognition. They also lacked the critical reference point - a theoretical synthesis of
the values, ethics, principles and perceptions implicit in the field - vital to achieving that
recognition. This made them both intellectually and strategically vulnerable. It also
detracted from the public image and status of the field, and resulted in an apparent
vacuum at its core. Even though the various AV archive Federations which operate
within the AV spectrum, FIAF, FIAT and IASA as well as individual archives had
developed policies, rules and procedures, there had traditionally been little leisure to step
back and ponder the theory on which these were based.
The emergence of organisations
such as the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) and the Philippines Society
of Film Archivists (SOFIA) aimed at meeting these individual, professional needs was
a sign of change.
1.3
Thirdly, the lack of formal training standards and courses for practitioners had
emerged as a significant issue, and had prompted UNESCO to set up processes resulting
in publications on the role and legal situation of AV archives, and the development of
training curricula for their staff. Such courses, as they emerged, would need theoretical
texts and reference points as well as the means of assimilating practical skills.
1.4 Fourthly, rapid technological change was challenging old assumptions as the
“information superhighway” advanced. The multiple - media archive (sometimes called
multimedia archive -
as distinct from multimedia (a new term usually meaning an
interactive laser disc containing sounds, moving images, text and graphics) was
increasingly supplementing, and sometimes evolving from, the older film archives and
sound archives, and the field was showing an increasing diversity of organisational
formats and emphases. Currently IASA and FIAF are reassessing their roles and futures.
1.5 This concern crystalised in, among other things, the setting up of AVAPIN in early
1993, as well as the increased visibility of theoretical and philosophical discussion in the
professional literature. Although the first AV archives (c/f. the definition in this section)
came into existence nearly a century ago, and the field may be said to have developed
self-awareness from the 1930’s onwards, sustained growth is basically a phenomenon of
the second half of the century. It is therefore a young field, underfunded and
under\ ~iued, preoccupied with the pressing practicalities of doing a complex and
demanding ; ob with limited resources.
10
1.1.6 The vision of the pioneering generation that established the concept of the film
archive and sound archive has been enriched, modified and developed by time and
experience, trial and error. Today’s AV archivists are a much larger circle, pioneers
still, facing more complex tasks, and with new needs that time and circumstance have
added. The challenge is to meet those needs in a vastly changed and changing AV
environment on the eve of the 21st century.
2 BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AND ISSUES
.
2.1 The preparation of this document has occurred under particular circumstances
and is necessarily based on some assumptions. It is important to make these clear at
the outset.
2.2 This document is a synthesis of the views of many individuals speaking as
individuals, not as representatives o f institutions or of the Federations. It therefore
has no “official” status in the sense of representing the formal views of this or that
organisation. Its purpose is simply to provide a focus for discussion, structured in
what seems to be - at this stage - a logical order.
2.3
The document fo llows the same stance as UNESCO in conceiving of AV
archiving as a single field, within which several federations and a variety of
institutional archive types operate, and which it is valid to regard as a single
profession with internal plurality and diversity*
2.4 AV archiving is considered to be in practice, if not in formali ty, a profession in
its own right. It follows that it is not seen as a specialised subset of an existing
profession, such as the “collecting” professions of archival science, librarianship or
museology, though it is closely related to them.
2.5
The relevant federations and other NGO’s are the appropriate fora for the
discussion and pursuit of a philosophy of AV archiving. However, it is the case that
many AV archives are ineligible to, or choose not to, join a federation for various
reasons: this makes a philosophy no less relevant to such institutions and their
employees, and so their views are no less valid.
2.6 The discussion on philosophy is developing at a time when the federations are
evaluating their future direction. The development o f further stages of this document
is an appropriate project on which representatives of NGO’s could be productively
brought together to deal with issues of common concern.
2.8 The intention is, as far as possible, to document what is actually the case, rather
than invent or impose theories or constructs: to be descriptive rather than prescriptive.
The philosophy of AV archiving may have much in common with other collecting
professions, but it is suggested that it should arise from the nature of the AV media,
rather than by automatic analogy from those professions. Similarly, the intent has
been to try and describe the AV media in terms of what it is, rather than what i t is not,
and hence avoid phrases like
“non-book
” “non-text” or “special materials”.
2.9 It is difficult to compile a shared terminology, since terms like “film”, “cinema”.
“AudioVisual”, “program”, “recording”,
Equally, however,
communication and concept.
3 DEFINITIONS AND TERMS
3.1 At the outset some key definitions are essential as a foundation for subsequent
discussion.
3.2 Definition of A V media
3.2.1 There are many definitions of, and assumptions about, this term, which is
variously seen to encompass (a) moving images, both film and electronic (b) audio-
slide presentations (c) moving images and/or recorded sounds in various formats (d)
still photographs and graphics (e) video games (f) CD ROM multi-media (g) anything
projected on a screen (h) all of these. Some examples of definitions are given below:
no doubt there are many others. They are offered as examples purely to illustrate the
range of perception; no endorsement or comment is given.
[audio visual media are:]
.- visual recordings (with or without soundtrack) irrespective of their physical base
and recording process used, such as films, filmstrips, microfilms, slides, magnetic
tapes, kinescopes, videograms (videotapes, videodiscs), optically readable laser discs
(a) intended for public reception either by television or by means of projection on
screens or by any other means
- sound recordings irrespective of their physical base and the recording process used,
such as magnetic tapes, discs, soundtracks or audiovisual recordings, optically read
laser discs; (a) intended for public reception by means of broadcasting or any other
means (b) intended to be made available to the public.
All these materials are cultural materials.
The definition is intended to cover a maximum of forms and formats.......movin g
images ...... constitute the classical form of audiovisual material and are the principal
form explicitly included in the Unesco 1980 Recommendation
......
(From Kofler, Birgit: “Legal questionsfacing AV archives” [UNESCO, 1991)
- [ An audiovisual work is one] which appeals at the same time to the ear and to the
eye and consists of a series of related images and accompanying sounds recorded on
suitable material.
(From World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) “Glossary of Terms of the
Law of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights”)
- [The audiovisual heritage] comprises films produced, distributed, broadcast or
otherwise made available to the public
. .[film is defined as] a series of moving
images fixed or stored on a support (whatever the method of recording and the nature
of the support used initially or ultimately to hold them), with or without
accompanying sound which, when projected, g ives an impression of movement .
(From an early draft for a proposed European Community convention to protect the
audiovisual heritage.)
3.2.2 The spectrum seems to range from anything with images and/or sounds on the
one hand, to the moving-image-with-sound or the audio-slide-show on the other. In
12
their respective contexts such definitions may be useful, but in philosophical and
practical terms AV archives need a definition which accords with working reality and
positively asserts the character of AV media in their own right.
3.2.3 Accordingly, the following is, advanced as a professional definition of AV
media”:
AV media are works comprising reproducible images and/or, sounds embodied in a
carrier, whose
technological device
- visual and/or sonic content has linear duration
- purpose is the communication of that content, rather than use of the technology for
other purposes
3.2.4 Accepting the likelihood that a sharp definition is impossible, this definition is
meant to decisively include conventional sound recordings, moving images (sound or
silent), videos and broadcast programs, both published and unpublished, in all
formats. It is meant to decisively exclude text material per se, regardless of the
medium used (whether paper, microform digital formats, graphics or projection slides.
etc.) The distinction is conceptual rather than technological, although to a large extent
a technological divide exists as well.
3.2.5 Sitting between these two groups, of course, is a spectrum of materials which
are less automatically the preoccupation of AV archives, and which, depending on
your perception, may or may not fully meet the above definition. these materials
include video games, multimedia, piano rolls and mechanical music, and the
traditional tape-slide “audiovisual”.
They also include still photographs, which many
would regard as an AV medium, whether the photographs are collected in their own
right, or as materia l re lating to the AV media (see the definition of AV heritage and
other sections)
3.3 Definition of AV heritage
3.3.1 The AV media, as defined above, may be perceived as the core of a larger range
of material and information collected and comprehended by AV archives and
archivists. This larger range is the AV heritage. The following definition is
proposed:
The AV heritage includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(a) Recorded sound, radio, film, television, video or other productions comprising
moving images and/or recorded sounds, whether or not primarily intended for public
release
(b) Objects, materials, works and intangibles relating to the AV media, whether
seen from a technical industrial, cultural, historical or other viewpoint; this could
include materia l relating to the film, broadcasting and recording industries, such as
literature, scripts, stills, posters, advertising materials, manuscripts, and artefacts such
as technical equipment or costumes.
13
(c) Concepts such as the perpetuation of obsolescent skills and environments associated
with the reproduction and presentation of these media.
3.3.2 Clearly, from this definition- the AV heritage includes both text materia l and the
“in between” materials mentioned above, among other things, which relate to the AV
media. For example, scripts are part of the heritage because they are scripts of radio or
TV programs or films: not becaasc they are scripts per se.
3.3.5 lt follows that most if net all, archives would define their scope by placing their
owr perspective on such a definition - for example, from a subject, geographical or other
viewpoint.
3.4 Definition of AV archii e
3.4.1 There is no succinct definition of an AV archive in general use. The constitutions
of FLAT, FIAF and IASA describe many characteristics and expectations of such bodies
as members, but provide no such definition for the institutional type itself.
3.4.2 The use of the term “archive, while common parlance, is itself problematic
because of its multiple associations.
In popular use, it has wide and non-specific
connotations as a place where “old” or non-current materials are kept. Within the
profession of archival science, however, it has come to have quite precise professional
and legal meanings. When coopted by the first AV archives it probably had the former
association; now it often connotes both, accurately or otherwise. Lacking a unique
international label which could readily define them as an institutional type, AV archives
have resorted to a range of labels, including phonotheque, cinematheque, videotheque,
museum, or library. However, since the word “archive” is historically embedded in the
titles of IASA, FIAT and FIAF, the term AV archive seems to be the closest match
presently achievable.
3.4.3 The following definition is therefore proposed:
An AV archive is an organisation or department of an organisation which is focussed on
collecting, managing, preserving and providing access to a collection of AV media and
the AV heritage.
3.4.4 The key aspects are (a) that an AV archive is an organisation - i.e. not a private
individual or collection (b) that collecting/ managing/ preserving/ providing access to AV
media is its focus - i.e. not just one incidental activity among many. The operative word
is and, nor or: it does all, not some, of these things, and this in turn implies that it collects
material in the range of formats suitable for both preservation and access.
3.4.5 The typology of AV archives (see section C) shows that within this definition
there are many types and emphases. For example, some AV archives concentrate on
individual media - such as film, radio, television, sound recordings - while others cover
several media. Again, some cover a wide range of content while others are highly
focussed or specialised in their subject interest.
3.5 Definition of AV archivist.
3.5.1 While terms like “film archivist”,
“sound archivist” and “AV archivist” are in
common use in the field and its literature, there appear to be no agreed definitions of
these terms adopted by the Federations or UNESCO, or indeed attracting a consensus
14
among the practitioners. Traditionally they are subjective and flexible concepts which
evidently mean different things to different people: a statement of personal identity or
perception, rather than a formal qualification.
3.5.2 Further, and unlike the sister fields of librarianship, museology and archival
science, there is little in the way of formal training, and no internationally accepted
formal qualification or accreditation, by which one may be professionally recognised as
an “AV archivist”. Recommended training standards have been devised (see: 26
Curriculum development for the training of personnel in moving image acid recorded
sound archives. UNESCO, 1990) but, at this stage, are far from practical implementation.
AV archivists come from a variety of backgrounds and it may be that the best beginning
would be to develop a corpus of accepted opinion and principles which they could
assimilate into their current qualifications and experience. Perhaps a similar approach
is possible in grafting an AV archiving corpus into existing course structures in the
collecting professions.
3.5.3 Against this background, the following definition is proposed:
An AV archivist is a person occupied at a professional level in an AV archive, in the
building, refining, control, management or preservation of its collection; or in the
provision of access to it, or the serving of its clientele.
3.5.4 In the long run, it would seem logical that a formal qualification or accreditation,
based on completion of university level training at least comparable to those of the other
collecting professions, should provide the minimum eligibility. Pending this, the term
and its variants will have little obvious or reliable meaning unless it is anchored to a
reference point. One approach could be that the term be applied to persons whose
experience, skills, knowledge, responsibilities or standing in the relevant international
fora are udged to broadly match the standards set out in the above UNESCO document.
It is open to the Federations and associations to establish accreditation mechanisms.
3.5.5 Like archivists, librarians and museologists, AV archivists would be able to follow
whatever specialisations suited their opportunities, preference and subject knowledge,
and identify themselves accordingly. So they might for example, share a common
grounding in theory, h istory and technical knowledge, but elect to pursue careers as
sound, film, television, broadcasting, multi-media or documentation archivists - or as
administrators, technicians, managers or whatever.
4 IS AV ARCHIVING A PROFESSION?
4.1 “Profession” is a much misused word, but in this case the real question is: is AV
archiving an aspect of one of the existing collecting professions, or is it sufficiently
distinct to be a profession in its own right? That the answer is “yes” has already been
asserted. How can this be demonstrated?
15
4.2 As a test definition, it is suggested that a profession. in our context, exhibits its
own distinctive:
skills, methods, standards and procedures.
forum - for example, literature and professional society.
training and accreditation standards
This document asserts that it essentially meets, or is moving to meet, all these tests,
albeit with significant qualification on the last two. Before discussing these, some
points of history and perception should be noted.
4.3 AV archiving originated in a variety of institutional environments. Lacking any
alternative, it was, and still is, natural for its practitioners to see and interpret their
work from the viewpoint of their own mother disciplines and parent institutions.
These disciplines variously include formal training in librarianship, museology,
archival science, history, physics and chemistry, administration and the technical
skills of audio, broadcasting and film. They also include no formal training at all - the
background of the self-taught and the enthusiast.
Pressed to state their professional
affiliation, AV archivists may fall back on their formal qualification - if they have one
- or identify with the epithet of sound/ film/ AV/ television archivist, or similar.
Some may cite their links with one or more of the Federations as evidence of
professional status.
4.4 AV archivists - collectively or in their specialist callings - are far from having a
clear and unambiguous professional identity.
Yet many university-educated
practitioners in responsible positions have a strong perception that they are not
librarians, (conventional) archivists or museologists, including those who hold formal
qualifications in those fields.
archivist’ or “sound archivist”-
even if they cannot be defined and are not self
explanatory - is a way of stating perceived identity.
4.5 Clearly none of these existing professions can fill the vacuum to the satisfaction
of most participants.
Nor, in the writer’s opinion, would this be desirable if the
profession is, indeed, a separate one.
4.6 Returning to the tests of professional status (para 1.2), it can be noted that a
growing professional literature in AV archiving does exist, in which issues of theory
and practice are debated. It includes the journals of the Federations. However, while
they provide forums for debate and cooperation and give some shape to the AV
archiving field, none of the Federations functions as a professional society - in the
sense of providing formal accreditation and support to individuals, or representing
and advancl,Tg a clearly defined profession.
Such a professional society seems an
essential characteristic of a profession.
There seems no reason why one or more of
16
the existing federations could not develop along these lines: alternatively, a separate
society could be established to perform this role.
4.7 At this stage, adequate formal training is a theoretical hope rather than a reality.
The draft standards exist, but the means to implement them is elusive.
4.8 These qualifications suggest that AV archiving is an emergent profession: it
exists in fact but still lacks the formal mechanisms which would make this visible and
unequivocal. This is probably no longer a matter for leisurely contemplation. There
are practical needs to be met. Further, the dangers of relying on a non-codified
philosophy, with the attendant risks of intuition and idiosyncrasy, are many.
It is interesting to ponder why, after a century of AV archiving activity, questions of
professional identity, formal training and accreditation are only now becoming issues.
Perhaps in a field pioneered by passionate individualists, generational change towards
a greater reliance on formal theory and structures has been slow. Herein lie some
fascinating prospects of enquiry into the history and character of AV archiving.
17
Ray Edmondson et al. Philosophy of AV Archiving.
1 Introduction
1.1
A defining feature of the various collecting professions is the particular
perspective, paradigm or world view which they bring to bear on the vast amount of
material of potential interest to them, and which allows them to select, arrange and
provide access to material in meaningful ways. They have much in common: the
disciplines of collection building, the management and conservation of collection
material, the provision of access to users are standard elements. There are cultural
motivations and ethics which transcend the mechanical or utilitarian; there is the
management of competing demands on slim resources. Differences arise in the way
these functions are addressed.
1.2 Although influenced by tradition and history, th;se worldviews are not essentially
determined by the physical format of the material: libraries, archives, museums and
AV archives all collect paper based formats, AV formats and computer-based
formats, for example. At the risk of gross over-simplification, some comparisons are
suggested. Beyond the comments given here, they warrant further examination.
2 Libraries
2.1 Libraries, traditionally the repository of the book (hence their name), the written
and printed word, are also information providers in all formats. They deal with
material that is for the most part published and/or designed for dissemination, created
with conscious intent to inform, persuade, move, entertain. The basic unit of the
library collection is the discrete published book, periodical, program, recording, map,
picture, v ideo etc. Although a given book may be included in the collection of
hundreds of different libraries, each collection is unique in character, reflecting its
clientele, responsibilities and governing policies, and the quality of the iibrary’s
selection skills. The disciplines of cataloguing and bibliography provide for control
and accessibility, significant information fields being the publisher, author, subjects,
date and place of publication.
3 Archives
3.1 There are various definitions of archival terminology, and as an example the
following are quoted from the International Council of Archives’ Dictionary of
archival terminology, ed. Peter Walne, 1988: “Archives” is defined as:
(1) Non-
current records preserved, with or without selection, by those responsible for their
creation or by their successors in function for their own use or by an appropriate
archives because of their archival value (2) An institution responsible for the
acquisition, preservation, and communication of archives: also called archival
agency, archive(s) service and records office. Archives are also called after the type
of institution whose “archives ”
they collect, e.g. college and university archives,
press/radio, television archives, church archives etc. (3) A building or part of a
building in which archives are preserved and made available for consultation: also
called archive(s) repository or archival depository.
3.2 Archives deal largely with unpublished material - accumulated records of social
or organisational activity which have been judged to be of continuing value. Rather
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than stand-alone works consciously created for publication, their interest is the
collective residue of activity.
context -
the linkage to its creator, activity, or other related records are the prime
considerations and collections are developed, managed and accessed in accordance
with these concepts. For example, an archived correspondence file may be part of a
particular series created by a particular government body in particular circumstances
or at a particular time.. Knowing this and using the material within that context is
essential to a full and proper understanding of it. Finding aids, not catalogues.
provide the user entry point.
4 Museums
4.1 Museums may be said to deal in objects rather than documents or publications
per se: collecting, researching, documenting, displaying. Conservation is a central
skill and discipline, and the skills of public display under controlled conditions for
educational purposes are a fundamental raison d’etre. The use of AV technology for
display purposes is increasingly characteristic.
5 AV archives
5.1 It is evident that the totality of AV archives, of necessity, embrace aspects of all
three concepts. For example, the material ‘they deal with may be “published” or
“unpublished” though the distinction is not always obvious or important; the concept
of an “original” (a film negative or a master recording) is also meaningful. The skills
of cataloguing and inventory control are equally essential. Because they deal with a
technological media it is conceptually impossible to separate the technology from its
product, so the disciplines of museology are relevant. The mechanics and avenues of
access, whether to individuals or groups of various size. are manifold. In addition,
there are distinctives which arise from the nature of the media.
5.2 Equally, within this amalgam, there are aspects of each of the older professions
which are not so relevant. For example, the archival science concepts of the record,
original order and respect desfonds can be confining ones for the AV archive and not
always relevant to its needs. The library science concepts of information and
collection management have limitations.
Access services can be very costly, so the
ethic of free public access traditionally common in archives and libraries can be
impractical.
5.3 The comparisons are instructive and would repay study. A hypothetical example
will illustrate. The same television program might legitimately find a place in all four
types of institution. Within a library, it may represent information, historical record
or an intellectual or artistic creation. Within an archives, it may comprise part of the
records of a particular organisation. Within a museum, it may be a displayable work
of art. Each concept is legitimate, but the same work is viewed from different
perspectives - from the worldview of the profession involved. AV archives see this
differently. The great Russian film maker and theorist, Sergei Eisenstein, considered
film to be the “synthesis of the arts”.
One way of viewing AV archiving is to see it as
a synthesis of disciplines.
6 The AV archive paradigm
6.1 The AV archive is, instead, in a position to view the hypothetical program in its
own right and not as an aspect of something else.
It does not need to see it primarily
as information, or historical record, or art, or organisational record. It can see it as a
television program which is all these things, and more, at the same time and organise
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itself around that fact. The character of the AV media and its products are the first
reference point for AV archives: just as, centuries ago, the character of the printed
book, as a phenomenon, gave rise to libraries as we now know them.
6.2 To amplify this, one can consider - for example - how AV archives perceive
paper materials in their collections - periodicals, posters, photographs, scripts and the
like. These items are mostly not perceived in their own right - but in that aspect
which serves to amplify the value of the recordings, films or programs to which they
relate. A film poster has value in an AV archive because of the film to which it
relates. It may have quite different value, as art in an art gallery.
6.3 The extent to which this paradigm operates in practice varies according to the
circumstances and choices of the AV archive. Autonomous AV archives - be they
single or multiple-media - which have independence and status comparable to major
libraries, archives and museums are in the best position to exhibit it, for in such cases
the AV media are seen to have the same cultural status as their o lder cousins. AV
archives which are essentially departments of larger entities find an accommodation
between this paradigm and the worldview of their parent institution. Obviously AV
media, like other media, retain their whole character regardless of their organisational
context: the question is how far that context can, or should, reflect that whole nature.
7 Other perspectives of AV archives
7.1 The worldview of AV archives contains many other elements which, to a greater
or less extent, are characteristic or defining features. The following are illustrative.
7.2 Industries and the AV media: AV archives are part of the world of collecting
institutions, conscious of the social responsibilities and ethic of public service which
characterise that world. But they are also, to varying degrees, part of another world:
the international AV industries and their culture. They recruit staff from it. They
speak their language, they service their needs. As stable points in a volatile milieu,
they preserve their corporate history and identity. They reflect their entrepreneurial
spirit and passion for the media. They represent a strong and emotive part of the
public memory and identity, an affirmation of the growing importance of preserving
“popular” culture as well as “high” culture.
7.3.1 Corporate Culture: The fragility and fugitive nature of the AV media. the
pioneering flavour of AV archiving, the lack of resources, the rapid development of
the technology, and their relatively small numbers give AV archives and archivists a
sense of mission and urgency.
“So much to do, so little time”: they are constantly
confronted by the implications of their own actions, inactions and limitations: they
need to convince, change attitudes and mould their environment.
A sometimes
passionate advocacy for their field is characteristic.
7.3.2 So is versatility. For example, having a basic general technical knowledge, and
a historical knowledge of the AV media and AV archiving, regardless of one’s area of
specialisation.
A sensitive and scrupulous approach to ethics is essential in a field
where commercial-in-confidence information is constantly handled, access or
acquisition transactions may involve considerable sums, judgement is constantly
needed and many important suppliers (such as private collectors) prefer to trust
individuals rather than institutions. The commitment required to operate successfully
in this environment tends to exclude those who lack personal enthusiasm for the AV
media and its archiving.
impinges on most collecting institutions.
Because AV media are technologically
based, the realities of preservation impinge on all the functions of an AV archive in a
particular way: they are integral to day-to-day operation, rather than an adjunct.
Preservation shapes perceptions: access to material always has technological and cost
implications and the mode of access must be such that it does not put the survival of
the work at unacceptable risk. If the cost cannot be met - for example, of making an
access copy from a preservation copy, or having the appropriate equipment available -
then access may not provided until it is.
7.4.2 Indeed because of their technological base, AV archives are often distinguished
by their character as centres of specialised technical expertise and equipment: as
places where obsolete technology and processes are, of necessity, maintained and
nurtured so that material in all AV formats can be restored and reproduced. How far
this will always be the case, as image and sound recording becomes increasingly
digitised, is a matter for debate: although the inertia effect of storing, maintaining and
copying ever increasing quantities of AV materials in obsolescent formats will keep it
so for the foreseeable future. Further, the aesthetic skills, historical knowledge and
ethical judgements involved in preservation work are integral to the character of the
AV media and will always be needed.
7.5 Technical perspective: A related characteristic is the technological mindset of AV
archivists: the capacity to think constantly in technical terms, to operate a variety of
technical equipment, to understand the direct consequences for collection material of
inappropriate storage,
mishandling or misusing equipment in a variety of
circumstances. It is an order of magnitude beyond that which one might expect as the
norm in other collecting professions.
7.6 Evidential approach: Logically and validly , AV archives use methods and
principles of acquisition, collection management, documenting and service provision
that arise from the nature of the AV media and its context - physical, aesthetic and
legal. These may therefore differ, in degree or in kind, from the corresponding
approaches of the other collecting professions.
While this statement may seem self
evident, the fact that AV archiving has grown out those professions means that their
differing (and sometimes mutually incompatible) assumptions have been applied, by
automatic analogy, to the practice of AV archiving. The need to work back to first
principles has sometimes become apparent later, and for many is still in the process of
emerging.
For example, the differing approaches to collection organisation and
documenting of archival science and library science have both been applied to AV
archiving. Many AV archives have developed other approaches which, while
drawing signals from both, have different base assumptions and are different in
practice.
7.7.1 Collection development: Like libraries, many AV archives acquire material
(depending on their circumstances) by voluntary or legal deposit, purchase and gift,
and like them they develop and apply selection or appraisal policies and mechanisms.
But collection development has additional and characteristic d imensions. These
include, for some, systems of voluntary deposit (where the AV archive has custody
but not legal ownership of material), off-air recording of broadcasts, the creation o f
recordings, and the skills of detecting and chasing fugitive materials whose
commercial shelf life may be a matter of weeks rather than decades. AV archives
need to be active and selective seekers rather than passive acceptors. The pattern
depends on the organisational setting of the AV archive and the policy of the parent
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Wolfgang Klaue (1989)
There have been films since 1895, radio since the twenties and television since the
thirties of our century. There have been facilities for the recording of sound for over a
hundred years and for the magnetic recording of pictures for about fifty. The majority
of audiovisual documents made in the preceding decades have been lost or destroyed.
The further we go back in history, the bigger are the gaps in our inheritance of films,
sound and video recordings. Without wishing here to analyse the reasons for this or
to investigate the question of the responsibility and guilt for this loss of human values,
one thing must be said: it is high time that audiovisual media were viewed as
archivable materials, to be accepted and conserved in archives. The process of the
mass destruction of audiovisual records must be ended. Audiovisual media have
become one of the most essential forms of human communication in the twentieth
century. Not to treat them as books in libraries, manuscripts in archives, works of art
in museums, can be justified neither scientifically nor morally.
This 1 th
International Archive Congress, after its beginnings in 1972, should play a pioneering
role in the process of extending the recognition of the historical value of audiovisual
materials.
I do not believe that at an international forum of experienced archivists the case for
the necessity of audiovisual material conservation needs to be made. Audiovisual
documents exist in great breadth and colourful variety, whether we subjectively like
them or not. Audiovisual media and, alongside them, new archivable material are a
reality which no one can ignore.
As long as there is no internationally recognised definition of audiovisual materials,
one must perforce, for the sake of intelligibility, define one’s own concept. My
definition lays no claim to general recognition, it is for me no more than a working
hypothesis: audiovisual materials include both still and moving pictures and sound
recordings together with all combinations of storing these no matter what recording
process or carrier medium is used. For me, the term ‘audiovisual records’ is a
comprehensive designation for photographic, film , sound and video recordings.
There are already today a considerable number of film, television and sound archives.
The memberships of the specialised NGOs are impressive by themselves: FIAF -
Federation Intemationale des Archives du Film - over 70 members and observers.
FIAT - Federation Internationale des Archives de la Television - about 50 members,
IASA - International Association of Sound Archives - over 400 members. And it can
be taken for granted that each of the bigger radio and TV stations has access to an
archive. Broadcasting stations without an archive are almost unthinkable. According
to the “Latest statist ics on radio and television broadcasting” (Unesco, 1987), there
are over 6100 sound broadcasting institutions in 197 countries and 1200 television
broadcasting institutions in 139 countries. Can we assume from these figures that the
continuing conservation of our audiovisual heritage is really secure?
No, this
conclusion is not justified. A more profound analysis of the position reveals that the
situation is not merely disturbing but highly alarming.
The process of the mass
destruction of audiovisual material, whether as film, video or sound recording, is
continuing. All our powers of discernment must be brought into play in order to
change this. In 1986/87 FIAF and FIAT conducted a worldwide survey on the
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position of radio and TV archives. The results of this survey have been published as a
UNESCO document and to a certain extent the findings can probably also

Audiovisual Archives

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