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Network of Multimedia Resource Centres – Where Do We Stand?
A Position Paper, 2010
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Since its establishment in November 2000 the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres has considerably contributed to the circumstance that institutions of quite different kinds have cooperated with one another in securing, preserving and developing audiovisual sources.
The aim is to make available audiovisual material to the sectors of education, science/scholarship, research, teaching and art, and simultaneously to facilitate access by the interested public to the non-central multimedia collections. Publicly financed multimedia collections are to be publicly accessible. The basic design of the Network – presented in November 2000 by the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv / German National Broadcasting Archives and further developed in October 2005 by the Museum of Contemporary History in a paper outlining future prospects – has proved itself. What follows is a summary of a few distinctive features and working focal points of the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres which have proved especially important in recent years and which will continue in future to characterize its work.
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- Structure of the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres
- Exchange of experiences and the professional dialogue within
the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres
- Focal points of content
- Compiling the resources in digital databases
- Securing digital audiovisual resources
- Participating in the dialogue on overall legal terms
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One of the distinctive features of the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres is that it links up quite different kinds of institutions, large and small, regardless of their funding and/or organizational structure, and regardless of whether they are film institutions, museums, archives, libraries or other institutions with audiovisual collections plus the relevant media competence. This is a way of linking up institutions that otherwise have few points of contact. To a great extent, the associations and umbrella organizations link up their affiliates in networks. Beyond this, the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres fosters a cross-disciplinary exchange in the archive-library-museum-university sector.
The loose organizational form and the partnership on terms of equality marking the semi-annual conferences with rotating venues have proved themselves, as has the cooperation of the German National Broadcasting Archives, the Museum of Contemporary History, the film library of the Film & Television Academy (HFF) “Konrad Wolf”, the Center for Art and Media (ZKK) and the Deutsche Kinemathek in preparing these discussions. To address specific questions arising, ad hoc working groups were and are formed by the institutions concerned; these groups also present their findings at the rotating conferences. In 2009 the Deutsche Kinemathek took over the management of the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres from the Museum of Contemporary History, the latter remaining in charge of looking after the web site.
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The special structure of the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres facilitates professional discussion of the various aspects of handling audiovisual collections. It is precisely because questions of organization or those specifically pertaining to the associations and questions of formal responsibility/authority are in the background that it is possible for an exchange to develop that is orientated on matters of substance and the concrete problems. The focus in the foreground is not on the organizations’ basic policy positions but on the concrete problems emerging in practice. This applies in particular to the technological changes comprised in the term “digitization” – changes that constitute a special challenge for all institutions with audiovisual resources at their disposal.
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The Network’s focal points of content include the informational exchange on the compiling of resources in digital databases, the securing of digital audiovisual resources and participation in the discussion on overall legal terms.
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The Network of Multimedia Resource Centres organizes an open exchange on experiences gathered in compiling resources in digital databases. This also includes applied standards, standard vocabulary, and formats. Also addressed are strategies for improved ways of finding information about the resources by means of portals, search engines and the evolving harvesting models. In keeping with the cross-disciplinary character of the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres, the various basic plans and experiences of libraries, archives and museums regarding resource compilation are discussed.
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The member-organizations of the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres increasingly face the task of securing audiovisual resources. Whereas in the large archives strategies for long-term digital archiving are being developed, it is especially the small and middle-sized institutions that are often unequal to coping with this task. Here as well, the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres is able to foster the professional dialogue, acting as a forum for both the evolving basic plans and for their applicability in everyday work.
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The position paper of 2005 already provides for the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres to undertake the task of influencing the discussion of the legal requirements relevant for audiovisual collections; and in the last few years, the overall legal terms, in particular regarding copyright law, have in fact gained considerable importance. By statements on “orphan works”, on the EU Green Paper or on young people’s own media productions in the framework of media-education projects, the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres has addressed specific legal problems in working with audiovisual resources, and has publicly presented the interests of the member-institutions.
The discussion on overall legal terms and the articulation of the particular interests of institutions in handling audiovisual collections will continue in future to be a focal point of the work of the Network of Multimedia Resource Centres. This applies in particular to the following topics:
To date, radical technological changes have always been accompanied by information losses. For that reason, the work of archiving must not be additionally impeded by legal restrictions (copy protection, digital rights management) Establishment of a code of catalogue rights on the Internet Internal work processes within publicly funded institutions should not be impeded by legal obstructions. Clarification of the treatment of “orphan works” The pending German copyright amendment (“Dritter Korb” = “Third Basket”), in particular to reflect the interests of science/scholarship and education Public accessibility of publicly financed multimedia collections
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