Selection Strategy for Legacy Collections :
a new project led by the P&P Commission

Background and objectives

The Commission has identified two different projects regarding selection of archive content :

Update of the existing FIAT Selection Recommendations

This document covers selection rules and procedures that apply mainly to incoming material to the archive post production or transmission. It has been clearly designed for use by archivists. It was drafted in 1996 at a time when very few digital materials were being received into media archives. Therefore, it would be useful to contextualise the existing guidelines and to review them to current state of archive management.

Selection Charter for Migration of legacy archives

This new document will answer the questions addressed in Emmanuel Hoog's keynote speech in Antalya : selection for preservation and digitisation of legacy archives.

It will contextualise the challenge to archive managers, broadcasters or national archives executives and politicians, offer strategic guidelines, provide cost benefit analysis and international examples of current approaches to the challenge and potential solutions.

As it is intended for different audiences, it will be necessary to use different approaches, and probably to prepare different documents.

The Charter will answer such questions as :

• For Archive managers : What they can do at their level ? What are the possible migration strategies ? The charter would provide guidelines for selection priorities and procedures as well as evaluate technical options.
• For Brodcasters and National Archives executives : Why do Archive need more resources to achieve their migration plan ? What is the cost ? What are the expected benefits for the company and the users ? What will happen if not ?
• For political officials : Why should they get involved in the question of Archive preservation and access ? What is their share of responsibility ?

Workplan

Update of the existing FIAT selection guidelines

• Contextualise the existing guidelines
• Review application to current state of archive management
• Focus on selection,de-selection and disposal criteria and process for rushes

• a revised version of the Guidelines, introduced by a foreword explaining the new context and questions arising from it eg the impact of increased production output ; benefits and costs of new technology
• to be published on the FIAT web site, and printed if needed

• Project leader : Vit CHAROUS
• Collaboration : Sue Malden and P&P Commission

• Jan 2003 for first re-draft
• May 2003 Final review at P&P meeting
• Sept 2003 for publication and presentation at the Annual Conference

Selection charter for migration (first draft)

Eight work packages

WP 1 : Contextualise the challenge

This chapter is intended for all audiences

• Growth in television, radio and cinema output requiring storage & management
• Diversification of sources of archive material
• High technical costs of transfer
• Frequently there is a need to enhance the metadata (cataloguing)
• Need for an interface between new production and the legacy holdings
• Address the operational management issues of managing both digital and analogue holdings
• Limited accessibility of legacy formats
• Limited commercial value of the holdings because of unclear third party/neighbouring rights situation and international duplication of content, especially News
• Digitising to both preserve content and improve access

This chapter will be of benefit to those archive managers who already have their strategy, as well as those that are yet to face this challenge

• Begin with new intake eg SVT
• Begin with legacy holdings eg INA
• Tackle both ends of the spectrum eg RAI and BBC

Action : Birgitte Rathsach, DR, Ruth Stifter, ORF

This chapter is intended for archive managers

• Fragility / vulnerability of physical material
• Most in demand
• Commercial value
• Heritage value

Action : Dominique Saintville, INA, Ruth Stifter, ORF

This chapter is intended for archive managers

• Create a hierarchy of genres of programme content
• Analysis of the range of media i.e. Film, video, audio

This chapter is intended for archive managers

• Technical choices
• Presto farm
• P/meta
• How to dispose of transferred material

Action : Roberto, Rossetto, Rai, Ricard Wright, BBC, the Media Management Commission

This chapter is intended for Broadcasters and National Archives Executives

Who are the stakeholders ?

• Producers
• Commercial sales
• Broadcaster
• Heritage
• Education learning and research
• New platforms e.g. On demand, new channels

Processes

• Measure benefits
• Funding model
• Collecting statistics to demonstrate usage and benefits
• Set up user groups

Action : Ruth Stifter, ORF

This chapter is intended for archive managers and political officials

If all the required funding is not forthcoming or time runs out !

• Destroy untransferred material or not ?
• Does it all need to be transferred - are selection criteria or sampling needed ?
• Share the problem of de-selection, face the responsibility together
• Identify costs saved in the future by this investment to reduce costs in the future

International examples of solutions

• A BBC video is being made for the Director general to demonstrate to politicians, influencers, etc. why the archvie is valuable
• RAI is exploring the educational use and access to their archives to be funded by the equivalent of 1 Euro increase in the license fee per family p.a. All 100 Italian universities are part of one network that will access the RAI catalogue
• INA producing a leaflet for use in lobbying officials
• British Pathe successfully obtained UK Lottery/Heritage money to digitise and make available their collection
• Work in partnership with a National Archive e.g. SVT

Action : Ruth Stifter, ORF

• The charter will probably include several versions depending on the audience e.g. archive managers, Broadcasters or National Archive executives, politicians, using different styles and content
• It will include appendices of examples from specific archives

• The FIAT Selection Charter for Migration of Legacy Archives
• to be published on the FIAT web site, and printed to be avaiable at the brussels conference

Action : Sue Malden

• Project leader : Sue Malden
• Collaboration : P&P + MMC interested members, plus FIAT members interested in the project and representing various level of advancement in the migration process

• Jan 2003 : detailed proposal and allocation of work packages to the project participants
• April 2003 : first draft of the 7 chapters
• May 2003 : second draft of the 7 chapters
• Aug 2003 : edition of the charter
• Sept 2003 : publication and presentation at the Annual Conference

Sue Malden, Chair of the P&P Commission - sue.malden@btopenworld.com
Dec 2002, Updated 15 Jan 2003

Last update : 01/03/06
© 2006 - FIAT/IFTA