The joint IASA/ BAAC conference is history. The event took
place in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, October 5- 11, 2013. The choice of
the venue for the conference was a good one. Vilnius is a beautiful city for an
international conference. Members of BAAC who worked for the conference, did a
splendid job making it possible for all of the delegates to enjoy the stay. If
a standard for the perfect programme should be set up, I think the programme
committe for this conference reached the aim: A programme contenting many
different subjects dealing with issues of audiovisual archives worldwide.Even
if I wanted to attend all of the sessions, I had to make choice. Therefore my
comments are limited to sessions I joined or sessions I got information about
later on. The delegates could decide if they wanted to attend a meeting dealing
with different issues . I made my own choice. Sound recordings of plays written
by William Shakespeare was one choice. To get access to the works of William
Shakespeare is not difficult. Public libraries worldwide could let you get
access to the written works of the William Shakespeare, but access to sound
recordings of the famous plays might cause some problems. Robert O’Brien from
USA presented his own collections of sound recording of the plays:” The
completable Shakespeare Discography”. The main issue is: Why is access to plays
- any play-limited to the written words only? A challenge to public libraries
for years. We need access to the written words, the sound recordings and the shots
of the plays. A play is written for a perfomance even if the texts might be of
great value later on. William Shakespeare taught us to know new expressions and
words. The problem of getting access to audiovisual archives for academics, journalists,
students and writers was dealt with by many of the speakers. Tedd Urnes and
Egle Vidutyde presented a paper about the issue of access to television
archives, radio archives and national archives emphasizing content of the archives. Erwin Verbruggen and
Joris Pekel reported on a project of making the audiovisual heritage accessible
and valuable through EUscreenXL. The final report of the work is not finished
because they ar still gathering information from archives and individuals
dealing with the issue. Pekka Gronow , former board member of BAAC, was
preoccupied with access to recording history. The title of his paper was:
Access to history of the recording industry:The experience of Dismarc and
Lindstrøm project. Jonas Korys , former board member of BAAC, presented a
report of the development of the work with the digitization of LRT radio digital archive. My private
interests were those sessions where radio
programmes and television programmes transmitted and movies were the
main subjects for the sessions. The main issues for the archives dealing with
productions are: New technology, management of the archives, staff problems,
copyright issues, practical problems in reusing
transmitted radio- and television programmes, access to the collections
of transmitted programmes for academics, content descriptions of the
programmes, access to the digitalized collections of the national archives, the
difference between the responsibility of the national archives and the
production units like television- and radio companies, and finally: Above all,
individuals who are dedicated to collections of old films, sound recordings and
rare books. You had it all, in Vilnius. I was fascinated to attend the meeting where
” Black Europe” was the subject. Rainer E. Lotz dedicated work and search for
recordings of African music in Europe was very interesting. It is also important to up-date your
knowledge in the field of how to organize the rapid and challenging new
technology. Basic information about the reasons for making use of the new digitale
world must not be neglected. The director of the audiovisual archives of the
Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation(NRK), Svein Prestvik, gave the delegates a
good answer to the questions of how to deal with the content descriptions of
the large number of programmes made every year and programmes transmitted to
the population of any nation: A close contact with the production units, the
journalists and the archives was one of the answers given by Svein Prestvik.
The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation(NRK) presented the
latest report of the digital music archive. Critical questions were asked and
answers were given by Tone Nøtvik Jacobsen and Berit Stifjeld. Reports dealing
with both practical problems and mistakes made while working are my favorite
sessions. We all make mistakes. It is good to learn about the mistakes made
instead of attending meetings where the speaker has the only correct answer to
every issue. Critical comments about administrative changes in archives with
reference to the introduction of the theories of private business way of
dealing with administration of archives, were presented by the Andris Kesteris.
He is board member of BAAC. The former president of IASA, Kurt Deggeller, with
whom I have worked for years, was
reflecting on the reasons why we have so
many international associations dealing with more or less the same issues? He
was also concerned about the lack of actions from the different associations
with reference to political events where the values of the work we do are
jeopardized. None of the associations are dealing with political issues but we
should let the world know if the values that we fight for, are jeopardized. I
agree with Kurt Deggeller. We should act.
BAAC has a close contact with audiovisual archives in
Mexico. Reports from conferences in Mexico have been published on the web site
of BAAC too. A report about sound archives of the commission for the
development of indigenous peoples in Mexico was presented by Alvaro Hegewitsch,
Julio Herrera, Julio Delgato and Carmen Ordono. The issues presented and the
problems were interesting.
The former board member of BAAC, Lelde Neimane, reported on
a project from the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. People who had been
deported to Russia during the occupation of Latvia, had been questioned about
the events of the past. An interesting report for anybody who is dedicated to
the study of history after the Second World War.
Finally: A perfect programme, a splendid working team who
made the conference a success. Mentioned among BAAC members in this
connections: Zane Grosa, Jonas Korys, Jouzas Markauskas and Jole Stimbiryte.
Regards
Tedd Urnes
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