The Cornfield Maze

15 years of digitisation and digital archiving in Flanders

Max Wildiers Fund- May 1999: Flemish government agrees on investing 200 million BEF (approx. 4.600.000 EUR) in archival projects- managed by Fund for Scientific Research (FWO)- granted 24 (4-year) projects between 2000 and 2007- gave birth to projects that were the first stones in a domino

chain of initiatives on digital infrastructures, digitising and digital archiving

- DAVID > cDAVID > eDAVID > Archipel > VIAA- STCV > Abraham > Presse-Papier / Belgian War Press > VIAA- ODIS > Archiefbank Vlaanderen- ENA / Symphonic Music > DIVA > VIAA- Light of a Collective Past > KFA/Cinematek > VIAA- …

Max Wildiers Fund

Digital Infrastructures

- Research Database for Intermediary Structures in Flanders (19th-20th century) – www.odis.be (ca. 170.000 records)

- authority database of persons, families, organisations, publications, archives, repositories, events and buildings- collaboration of ADVN, Amsab-ISG, Kadoc & Liberaal Archief, formalised in a non-profit organisation- project funded by Max Wildiers Fund (2000-2003),

further development granted by Hercules Fund (2009-2012)

ODIS

Archiefbank Vlaanderen- database or guide (“yellow pages”) to the private (persons,

families, organisations) archives in Flanders- founded in 2003 by ADVN, Amsab-ISG, Kadoc & Liberaal Archief as demanded by Flemish Archives decree (2002)- formalised in a non-profit organisation- funded by the Flemish Cultural Heritage Decree- concept, data architecture and initial data input based upon

the ODIS-database- www.archiefbank.be (ca. 28.000 records)

Short Title Catalogue (STCV)- bibliography of 17th and 18th century publications printed

in Flanders- 2000-2003: funded by Max Wildiers Fund- 2004-2009: funding continued by Flemish government- 2009: became a part of the Flemish Heritage Library (°2008)- www.vlaamse-erfgoedbibliotheek.be/stcv (ca. 28.000 ed.)- aided further development of Brocade database infrastructure, which is a.o. used for Abraham

Abraham- catalogue of Belgian newspapers deposited in Flemish heritage institutions- initial goal: national project for the conservation of Belgian

newspapers (KBR, EHC & SOMA)- 2006: division between digitisation branch (KBR & SOMA)

and cataloguing branch of the project (EHC)- 2007-2009: funded by Flemish government- 2009-…: became part of Flemish Heritage Library- www.vlaamse-erfgoedbibliotheek.be/abraham

Digitisation

Presse-Papier- national project for the conservation of Belgian newspapers- initiated in 2003 as a national Belgian project- aimed to digitise newspapers and develop a collective inventory a basis for selection- 2005: pilot project by Royal Belgian Library (KBR) and City

of Brussels digitising Le Soir (250.000 pages, 1887-1970)- 2006: project was split up between EHC

(Abraham project) and KBR / SOMA

Belgica / Belgian War Press- 2006: Federal government (Belspo) granted 4,5 million EUR

for digitisation- 2012: 3,2 million pages of 70 newspapers (1831-1950) are digitised, but “only” available in the reading room of the

KBR- 2012: SOMA launches the Belgian War Press database ( warpress.cegesoma.be ) with digitised clandestine newspapers from both world wars

VIAA – News of the Great War- due to the Great War commemorations VIAA – Flemish Institute for Archiving initiates a project to digitise all Belgian press between 1914 and 1918- collaboration between VIAA, FARO, PACKED, Flemish Heritage Library and 13 content providers- 2013: inventory based upon Abraham and further research- 2014: digitising more than 300.000 pages in addition to the

Belgian War Press (SOMA) scans

Other (paper) digitisations- Local newspapers: cities of Aalst, Ieper, Diksmuide, …- Regional newspapers: Gazet van Antwerpen / Mechelen- Alamire Foundation: musical heritage (manuscripts of polyphonic music, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)- Itinera Nova: digitisation of 1128 city registers of Leuven (1362-1795), www.itineranova.be

Other (paper) digitisations- UB Gent:

- digitisation of historical manuscripts:* landscape photography (www.recollectinglandscapes.be)* topographic collection * Antifonarium Tsgrooten (www.antifonarium-tsgrooten.be)* Liber Floridus (www.liberfloridus.be)

- Google Books project: scanning 300.000 copyright free books(lib.ugent.be/en/project-google.shtml)

DIVA / VERDI - audiovisual archives of the VRT (Flemish Public Broadcaster)- 2008-2011: digitisation of 13.000h of audio and 6.200h of video (out of a grand total of 90.000h of audio and 170.000h of video)- 2012-2013: digitisation of all radio journals and DAT-tapes

(1975-2006)- 2013: collaboration agreement with VIAA

VIAA- Flemish Institute for (Audiovisual) Archiving- founded in 2012 by the Flemish government- follow-up of research projects BOM-VL, Archipel and digitisation projects DIVA / VERDI- ambition to digitise 600.000h of audio and video- collaboration between media sector and heritage sector- introduction video: www.viaa.be

Cinematek- = Royal Belgian Film Archive- repository and digitisation of film, especially those

threatened by acid or vinegar syndrome- digitising funded by Federal government (Belspo) or European projects (e.g. European Film Gateway 1914-1918)

Digital Archiving

DAVID- DAVID

- Digital Archiving for Flemish Institutions and Services- research project (2000-2003) funded by Max Wildiers Fund and conducted by FelixArchief and ICRI- manual with practical and legal guidelines for digital archiving

- cDAVID- research project (2004-2007) funded by the Flemish government

and conducted by FelixArchief- manual with guidelines on digitising cultural heritage

DAVID- eDAVID

- Expertisecentrum DAVID, founded in 2006 as a non-profit organisation linked to FelixArchief and funded by the Flemish government- research projects:

* digital depot (2006-2009): functional, organisational and legalaspects of a digital repository

* CEST (2009-2010): toolbox of cultural heritagestandards, in collaboration with PACKED

PACKED- founded in 2005 by Argos, MuHKA, SMAK and MDD as a platform for collaboration on archiving and conservation of audiovisual arts- 2006-2010: funded by the Flemish government as a nationwide centre of expertise- 2010-2011: collaboration with eDAVID on CEST-toolbox- 2011-…: funded as a centre of expertise on digital

heritage

BOM-VL- Conservation and Dissemination of Multimedia in Flanders- research project (2008-2009) funded by the Flemish government- goal: solutions for long-term preservation of audiovisual archives- first project combining media and cultural heritage sector- follow-up projects:

- Vlaanderen in Beeld (media partners)- Archipel (cultural partners)

Archipel-“Network-centric approach to sustainable digital archives”- research project (2009-2011) funded by the Flemish government and conducted by FARO and IBBT- follow-up of BOM-VL- goal: prove that offered solutions are sustainable while connecting small and larger archives- teaser: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHk_hCBEsM0

Other- SODA:

- research project (2012-2013), funded by the Flemish government, conducted by AMVB

- roadmap for the deposit of digital archives in small archives

- SIP Creator:- development project (2012-2013), funded by the Flemish

government, executed by Ghent University Library- open source tool to create Submission Information

Packages (SIP’s)

Digital repositories- FelixArchief (Antwerp)- University Library Ghent- Flemish Parliament- LIAS-consortium (KADOC/KULeuven)- VIAA (project Trustworthy Digital Repository)

ADVN & NISE

ADVN: a two-track policy- digitising on demand:

- in-house scanning / reproduction of individual items for patrons, publications, exhibitions, website etc.

- selected digitisation (in-house for scanable items, outsourced for audiovisual items):

- series of items of an identical format (flags, big posters etc.)- series of items from one archive or thematic collection- participating in regional or nationwide initiatives like

VIAA

NISE: sharing knowledge- Expertise and Information Centre (EIC):

- establishing an international network of archives and libraries- promoting exchange of best practices and experiences- support and participation in international projects- … (always open for suggestions)