Before and after digitization: a critical assessment of sound collections management in Spain

Abstract

Sound and audiovisual heritage usually follow separate tracks, as shown by their theoretical guidelines, practical plans, research projects and specialization courses in document safeguarding. In the case of sound archives, a further division between ‘musical’ and ‘oral’ archives adds up to the difficulty of studying Spanish sound archives as a whole. This is made worse by a scarcity of relevant information sources: those available are valuable but focus on locating and identifying centers, hardly describing collections and their management. A more thorough study has therefore been necessary, taking projects devised for other geographical areas as a reference for a new inquiry addressed to Spanish memory institutions. These were asked for an assessment of current sound recordings management, in four stages of safeguarding: surveys and global studies; individual analysis; analogue and digital preservation; and possibilities for accessing recordings and disseminating them. The answering institutions pointed to important management shortcomings in almost all stages and in many parts of Spain. Solutions may be known but must not be delayed any more, for sound recordings to escape a high risk of damage and disappearance