IASA 2018 Annual Conference

One of the main goals of every culture heritage institution is to be able to communicate and share their collection with the public and other institutions. Although it might seem that the digital era has been underway long enough to provide all institutions with the necessary time for gathering digital evidence and cataloguing, the process is often very long and painstaking.
The National Museum has the largest collection of recorded audio in the country. A great part of it is not catalogued digitally but only exists on paper (cards, lists), which is a problem for the public, institutions and the Museum itself, as it is not always clear what we already have in our collections and whether to acquire certain items or not, or whether we are able to help other institutions with research, etc.
The crucial step for a large cultural heritage institution is to make a proper inventory of all the items in their collection, in our case sound recordings. The archeology often starts “in your own backyard”, by making a basic list or chart to start with. This often involves combining sources that range from the sound-carrier themselves to various handwritten notes and descriptions, as well as  typewritten cards. This basic chart can later be transported in bulk to digital catalogues for public access.
Our team has tried a different approach on our collection of 10” standard records, using photography as the main tool. We present a quick and cost-effective way to compile digital evidence of tens of thousands of items within months, an achievement which has been unprecedented within the NM.