Dutch Media Archives:
Impressions From An American Colleague

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Barbara P. Semonche, Library Director, The Park Library
UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication

May 10, 2001

My first introduction to a Dutch media archive was in 1982. While in the Netherlands for a family holiday, I invited myself to tour de Volkskrant's archive. I left after a nearly two-hour visit highly impressed with how then chief archivist, Otto Spronk, was providing valuable reference services as well as managing the newspaper's extensive archives while engaged in a large-scale project microfilming news clippings. We continued to keep in touch. Five years later, Otto joined other media archivists from Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and India for a News Division conference in Anaheim, California.

In the nearly two decades since that first visit, many things in our media industry changed. The arrival of newspaper automation ("cold type"), the development of sophisticated full-text news databases, and the rapid expansion of the Internet all had significant impact on news librarians and media archivists around the world. Our professional careers were irrevocably changed. In a relatively short period of time we made a quantum leap from substantially non-automated operations to increasing digitalization of our collections and services. Undoubtedly future changes in the media industry and in our profession will continue to challenge us. Which brings me to the reason for my latest visit to the Netherlands: changing roles.

It came as a welcome surprise when Otto invited me to address the annual conference of the Dutch Media Archivists' Society (VPOD) this year. I was already in Europe at the request of The Freedom Forum International Library Division to provide Internet instruction to Hungarian media archivists so travel and schedules were easy for us to arrange. These plans became much more attractive when the U.S. Embassy Information Research staff, Jos van Tegelan and Diana Fielding, arranged for financial support of my expenses. To say that I am grateful would be a large understatement!

Otto and I discussed the topic of my presentation for the May 2 conference. Several ideas came to mind. Turning to "Media Morphs: News Librarians Evolve!"

I cautioned Otto that my perspective would be largely North American, but that I would hope to remedy this limitation by touring as many Dutch archives and talking to as many Dutch archivists as possible. He promised me that he would. And indeed he did! More about those tours later. [It is noteworthy that 19 Dutch media archivists are subscribers to NewsLib.] 

My multimedia presentation (using ASTOUND! Software) covered such areas as:

• defining news librarians from "morgue" clerks to "knowledge base architects"
• redefining ourselves, our collections, our services, our expertise, our image
• developing a new model of news research (information consultants or "information connoisseurs"?)
• illustrating news library "redefinition" (a dozen examples)
• technology's impact on news librarian roles (a brief chronology)
• evaluating the accuracy, credibility and quality of media information resources
• standardizing WWW codes for archiving (SGML and XML)
• examining "media convergence"
• forging new media relationships
• charting our professional future

Following a short break, our group of about 60 (mostly media archivists, but several from related professions including information brokers) viewed the IFRA video, "Tomorrow's News."

A lively discussion ensued. The first question for news librarians and media archivists who view this video is: "Where do we fit into this high-tech picture?" Answer: we're there, but as something called "the knowledge base." Are we prepared for that role? Is it that much different from what we are already doing? Who is building this "knowledge base"? "How soon is this going to happen?"

Stories were told. Laughter shared. Questions raised. Alternatives explored. During this exchange, a significant observation was offered. In discussing the credibility of "e-lance journalists," two information brokers suggested that perhaps it was unfair and inaccurate to disparage such independent contributions to the media. After all, they reasoned, many of their clients are from media archives and either because they do not have the time or do not have the capability in-house, research is "out sourced" to independent information agencies. In reality, media organizations have been doing this for decades, first through news wire agencies and later through free-lance correspondents. A similar parallel can be made with news research. For years, librarians and media archivists have had contracts with online database vendors, commercial photo archives, and now, even private information brokers and aggregators to augment their research capabilities. Information is a commodity. Its provenance, reliability, credibility is always a concern whether it originates from in-house sources or elsewhere. Librarians and archivists are frequently better equipped to evaluate the quality of information resources.

TOURS OF DUTCH MEDIA ARCHIVES

During my four-day visit, Otto and members of the VPOD Board arranged for me to visit seven media archives. Otto and fellow VPOD Board member Fred Njio, chauffeured me and my husband, Jack, in and around heavy traffic in Amsterdam, Hilversum, and The Hague.

De Volkskrant (newspaper) Hildegard Ligthart, Documentation Chief h.ligthart@pcmuitgevers.nl

    Hildy is now the chief of this archive; Otto is in research. Hildy gave me a tour of the archives and the newsroom, finding time also for me to have a conversation with her boss. (Otto, please find out the name of this woman editor; I apologize for not making a note of it.) The focus is primarily upon maintaining the growing archive of clippings but there is a shift toward offering digital archives of the paper. Also expanding are research services through databases and Internet. One of the research staff, Guus Bosch, described his innovative response to an overheard newsroom query involving the attendance at the annual Queen's Day Celebration. Soft drinks were offered during a conversation with her staff and then I was presented with a book about the history of de Volkskrant. The business card holder that accompanied the book was immediately put to good use.

Trouw (newspaper) Paul Griffioen, Archive Manager. p.griffioen@pcmuitgevers.nl

    Paul demonstrated a new software product bought to build a digital catalogue of over a million photos. It would look very familiar to several U.S. digital image archives. After a tour of the photo archives and the newsroom, he presented me with materials from SEPIA (Safeguarding European Photographic Images for Access) focusing on the preservation and digitisation of European photographic collections, in English!

Hetparool (newspaper) Joost Brinks, Archive Manager j.brinks@pcmuitgevers.nl

    Joost led me through his newspaper's newsroom and described a new model of reference service he is implementing. He calls it the "satellite" model wherein individual news researchers are actually assigned to the newsroom; they no longer remain in the archives, waiting for journalists to come to them! I assured him that he was in good company with several of our best U.S. news libraries who are implementing similar models of research service.

NOS (public broadcasting association) Harrie Bos [Postbus 26444, 1202 JJ, Hilversum, NL]

    Harrie and his documentation and library department staff are at the leading edge of news research. This group has gone beyond fact-finding and research. They are deeply involved in gathering data, preparing thorough analyses, and then publishing and distributing these analytical reports in print and digital formats to their clients. I have several of their daily, weekly, and annual reports! They are impressive. One extraordinary report by Ben van Reenen is titled, "The Dutch Broadcasting Landscape in the Year 2000."

Evangelische Omroep (religious foundation) J. Farber, Director and
Natasja Kapes, Archivist natasja.kapes@eo.nl

    Farber was host for VPOD's conference and he did a masterful and gracious job. He was even able to get me a data video projector so that I could use my computer's multimedia presentation. His chief assistant, Natasja, was equally impressive as she demonstrated EO's digital index of their world-wide collection of evangelical materials. When I inquired if she had anything on Rev. Billy Graham (from North Carolina), she entered his name, found several records, then took me to the huge file of print articles about him. The same thing happened when I asked what she had about church architecture. The index, dating from 1996, is accessible only through the archivists, but EO is exploring how to offer searching capability through their web site. The mementos of their organization were deeply appreciated.

TROS (public television) Anne Werst, Archivist anne.werst@tros.nl

    Anne and her associate demonstrated their digital archive. Loaded on a Mac platform, the archive is searchable via free-text and controlled vocabulary. The content comes largely from digital print publications; TROS offering a gateway to these vital resources for their in-house staff. Anne took me on a tour of the beautiful modern building and the extraordinary video/audio tape archives going back for decades.

American Embassy Information Resource Center, Diana Fielding, Center Director                                                                                                        fielding@state.gov

    Entering American Embassy quarters is a lesson in security, but the gatekeepers were gracious and helpful, especially the on-site networking staff. That crew of three helped me navigate the Embassy's firewall, without compromising security, so that I could reach my email server at the University of North Carolina. While a full tour of the building was not possible, I did admire the Center's attractive, spacious quarters. Information service under Diana's leadership is expanding into a more pro-active focus. Outreach activities are up close and personal for the Embassy, its Ambassador and her staff, as well as the public. The Center offers information through their web site maintained by the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC. A special treat was lunch at Schlemmers, a famous café in The Hague.

SUMMARY

This experience reinforced my initial impression of Dutch media archivists as among the world's premier news information specialists. Their professional skills accompanied by their technological expertise in indexing, cataloging, classifying, preserving, and digitizing information is on a par with the best I've seen in my travels in nearly a dozen countries. These talents are enhanced by their obvious dedication to research quality and accuracy. Commitment to the fundamental mission of their organizations is at the core of their efforts. It reflects well on the Dutch media. .

DUTCH MEDIA ARCHIVISTS WILL TOUR U.S. IN APRIL 2002

Anne Werst (TROS) anne.werst@tros.nl and Jos van Tegelen  vanTegelenJ@state.gov (American Embassy Information Resource Center) will be leading a team of Dutch media archivists to the United States in mid-April 2002. On their itinerary includes Washington, DC and New York City. American news libraries in those cities look forward to meeting and learning from their Dutch Colleagues.

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

I am grateful to the VPOD Board for making this visit to the Netherlands possible. My genuine thanks also to the American Embassy Information Center staff, Diana Fielding and Jos van Tegelen, and to Embassy Director Angier Peary for their gracious and generous support. To Fred Njio fnjio@xs4all.nl , I tip my hat to his expert and patient driving and his inspiring tour of the charming, peaceful Dutch countryside. To Otto Spronk, I am indebted for the sharing of his boundless knowledge of Dutch history (offered via tours and in the form of a 1774 Dutch newspaper!) and his abiding concern about news archive preservation. And to my husband, John Semonche, I'm grateful for his expert technical help in the preparation of my program. He is the Wizard.