How are archives dealing with issues that emerged during global pandemic? What have the months of disruptions taught us about organisational resilience? A few months ago a group of audiovisual archival professionals from across the globe gathered for a virtual exchange hosted by FIAT/IFTA and IASA to discuss and reflect on these questions.

Today we are delighted to share with you the report from these discussions, capturing the main takeaways in six key observations, encouraging archives to see the current disruptive situation as an opportunity to adapt and craft new strategies and internal policies bringing the archive closer to its stakeholders and turning it into an agile and attentive organisation serving the public, not only in time of crises. In the foreword of the report, its authors, Maria Drabczyk (National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute, Poland, Value, Use & Copyright Commission FIAT/IFTA) and Johan Oomen (Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Organising Knowledge Committee IASA), write:

The past year of disruptions and adaptations has taught the community many lessons; About reaching out online, remote working, and, more generally, about its resilience in times of crisis. The global pandemic condensed a decade of digital transformation into a few months. This report captures the various ways in which the cultural heritage sector is adapting, not only to cope with the present, but also to flourish in the future.

With the above in mind, we hope the report will ignite further discussions and we want to encourage everyone to contribute by reaching out to the people involved in this study, or by following the social media channels of FIAT/IFTA and IASA.

Read and download the full report

Read more about the report in the Library Section.