Memorandum submitted by National Council
on Archives
I write on behalf of the National Council on
Archives in response to the New inquiry: New media and the creative
industries. The Council is an organisation which brings together
representatives of other organisations with an interest in archives
in the UK. The purpose of the Council is to seek consensus concerning
policy affecting archives and their users, and to advocate on
behalf of the archival sector nationally.
The Council welcome the opportunity to comment
on the challenges and opportunities for the creative industries
and the subsequent repositories of the work arising from the development
of new media platforms.
With regard to the effects upon the various
creative industries, and the repositories of their work, of unauthorised
reproduction and dissemination of creative content, particularly
using new technology, the Council feels that the present system
of copyright for traditional media is a good starting point, although
there may be cases when there may be issues around what does or
doesn't constitute a publication and what a library of deposit
might or might not want to collect. We highly recommend that the
Inquiry takes account of the British Library's evidence, and consults
the UK Film Council and the British Film Institute regarding the
emerging ISBN equivalents for films and other time-based media.
The Council also would like to highlight the
issue, not only of protecting creators of new media, but also
issues of copyright of archival material when reused in creative
formats, and manipulation of existing materials. Materials within
film, television, photographic and paper-based archives are a
rich source for present-day creators, but these archives often
struggle to balance wider access with the need to create external
funding for the use of their material. The Council hopes that
the Inquiry will be able to present suggestions for fair equity
in this regard.
The Council is also concerned that issues of
the long-term preservation of new media should not be overlooked,
whatever the outcome of the copyright and other protection mechanisms
may be recommended by the Inquiry. It is a sad fact that large
amounts of valuable material born electronic or digital, or preserved
only in electronic formats, are being lost because of the changes
in platforms and the large and exponentially growing costs of
digital storage. This is a problem facing many government agencies,
organisations, businesses and individuals, and a clear steer from
the Inquiry on the responsibilities and rights of providers, creators,
and preservers of new media content, would be very welcome.
28 February 2006
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