How to Retain the Balance Archives of Latvian Folklore

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Aldis PutelisLFK

• How to Retain the Balance?Archives of Latvian
  Folklore
• in the Digital Age

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• Archives are traditional institutions aimed at
• safekeeping and
• accessibilty
• Demands of the modern user are quite clear fast
  access, easy search. This practically means that
  archives must be accessible over the internet, as
  significant numbers of people prefer to perform
  their research not standing up from their chairs
  in front of computer desks.

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age
Archives can provide access to their catalogues
over the internet as some basic help to the
users. But the archive registry entry is not the
item users come looking for as the greatest
number of users are looking for at least some
samples of material.

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• The Archives of Latvian Folklore, a department of
  the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art,
  University of Latvia, is a genre-specific
  archive, with limited types of archived material
• manuscripts,
• sound recordings,
• images and
• some video.
• The range of information is limited to that of
  folklore material and its background information.
  
• The archive was established in 1924 and started
  operation in 1926. With little change in work
  with manuscripts, it has retained the main
  principles from its foundation time along with
  the basic methods (like using card catalogues).

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• There are several aspects in archive work, that
  are in direct opposition to one another.
  Summarising those aspects one may say that
  serving the archive users requires establishing
  of balance between such matters
• access expected by users and restrictions imposed
  by ethical and legal aspects
• creation of digitised archive material and that
  of digital usage copies
• digital copies of material and the analogue
  original

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• There are numerous problems encountered in the
  process of digitisation as well as while working
  with the users, but some of those are really
  serious
• there is lack of necessary special knowledge,
• the funding available is insufficient for
  specific archive needs, as there are no specific
  balance positions,
• there is no clarity regarding the legal matters,
• the digital media develops faster than a small
  archive can (e.g. current equipment and software
  is incapable of 24 bit audio and sampling
  frequencies above 48 kHz)

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• The achievements so far are as follows
• the audiovisual archive, comprising phonograph
  cylinder and tape recordings, still images and
  VHS video is completely catalogued in a data
  base,

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• The achievements so far are as follows
• the audiovisual archive, comprising phonograph
  cylinder and tape recordings, still images and
  VHS video is completely catalogued in a data
  base,
• the data base is made available over the web at
  LFK's homepage

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• The achievements so far are as follows
• the audiovisual archive, comprising phonograph
  cylinder and tape recordings, still images and
  VHS video is completely catalogued in a data
  base,
• the data base is made available over the web at
  LFK's homepage,
• most of the images and a significant part of the
  sound recordings are available as samples on the
  web (images at 72 dpi 640x640 .jpg, sound as 56
  kbps .mp3)

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• The achievements so far are as follows
• the audiovisual archive, comprising phonograph
  cylinder and tape recordings, still images and
  VHS video is completely catalogued in a data
  base,
• the data base is made available over the web at
  LFK's homepage,
• most of the images and a significant part of the
  sound recordings are available as samples on the
  web (images at 72 dpi 640x640 .jpg, sound as 56
  kbps .mp3)
• all of the oldest sound recordings have been
  digitised and made available without necessity to
  use the original playback hardware

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• The achievements so far are as follows
• the audiovisual archive, comprising phonograph
  cylinder and tape recordings, still images and
  VHS video is completely catalogued in a data
  base,
• the data base is made available over the web at
  LFK's homepage,
• most of the images and a significant part of the
  sound recordings are available as samples on the
  web (images at 72 dpi 640x640 .jpg, sound as 56
  kbps .mp3)
• all of the oldest sound recordings have been
  digitised and made available without necessity to
  use the original playback hardware
• all of the prints and drawings registered in the
  card catalogues have been digitised and can be
  accessed from any computer at LFK,

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

• The achievements so far are as follows
• the audiovisual archive, comprising phonograph
  cylinder and tape recordings, still images and
  VHS video is completely catalogued in a data
  base,
• the data base is made available over the web at
  LFK's homepage,
• most of the images and a significant part of the
  sound recordings are available as samples on the
  web (images at 72 dpi 640x640 .jpg, sound as 56
  kbps .mp3)
• all of the oldest sound recordings have been
  digitised and made available without necessity to
  use the original playback hardware
• all of the prints and drawings registered in the
  card catalogues have been digitised and can be
  accessed from any computer at LFK,
• as a result of this development, collections
  previously kept privately are submitted to LFK
  for archiving.

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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

The digital age has not yet fully arrived at LFK,
neither has it solved all of the problems that
there were before. At the cost of all these
problems we have managed to make our collections
more accessible. Now we must find ways to
secure the safekeeping of material.
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How to Retain the Balance? Archives of Latvian
Folklore in the Digital Age

Thank you for your attention! See it all for
yourself at http//www.lfk.lv