1. The Cornfield Maze

2. 15 years of digitisation and
digital archiving in Flanders

3. Max Wildiers Fund
- May 1999: Flemish government agrees on investing 200
million BEF (approx. 4.600.000 EUR) in archival projects
- managed by Fund for Scientific Research (FWO)
- granted 24 (4-year) projects between 2000 and 2007
- gave birth to projects that were the first stones in a domino
chain of initiatives on digital infrastructures,
digitising and digital archiving

4. - DAVID > cDAVID > eDAVID > Archipel > VIAA
- STCV > Abraham > Presse-Papier / Belgian War Press >
VIAA
- ODIS > Archiefbank Vlaanderen
- ENA / Symphonic Music > DIVA > VIAA
- Light of a Collective Past > KFA/Cinematek > VIAA
- …
Max Wildiers Fund

5. Digital Infrastructures

6. - Research Database for Intermediary Structures in Flanders
(19th-20th century) – www.odis.be (ca. 170.000 records)
- authority database of persons, families, organisations,
publications, archives, repositories, events and buildings
- collaboration of ADVN, Amsab-ISG, Kadoc & Liberaal
Archief, formalised in a non-profit organisation
- project funded by Max Wildiers Fund (2000-2003),
further development granted by Hercules Fund
(2009-2012)
ODIS

7. Archiefbank Vlaanderen
- database or guide (“yellow pages”) to the private (persons,
families, organisations) archives in Flanders
- founded in 2003 by ADVN, Amsab-ISG, Kadoc & Liberaal
Archief as demanded by Flemish Archives decree (2002)
- formalised in a non-profit organisation
- funded by the Flemish Cultural Heritage Decree
- concept, data architecture and initial data input based upon
the ODIS-database
- www.archiefbank.be (ca. 28.000 records)

8. Short Title Catalogue (STCV)
- bibliography of 17th and 18th century publications printed
in Flanders
- 2000-2003: funded by Max Wildiers Fund
- 2004-2009: funding continued by Flemish government
- 2009: became a part of the Flemish Heritage Library (°2008)
- www.vlaamse-erfgoedbibliotheek.be/stcv (ca. 28.000 ed.)
- aided further development of Brocade database
infrastructure, which is a.o. used for Abraham

9. Abraham
- catalogue of Belgian newspapers deposited in Flemish
heritage institutions
- initial goal: national project for the conservation of Belgian
newspapers (KBR, EHC & SOMA)
- 2006: division between digitisation branch (KBR & SOMA)
and cataloguing branch of the project (EHC)
- 2007-2009: funded by Flemish government
- 2009-…: became part of Flemish Heritage Library
- www.vlaamse-erfgoedbibliotheek.be/abraham

10. Digitisation

11. Presse-Papier
- national project for the conservation of Belgian newspapers
- initiated in 2003 as a national Belgian project
- aimed to digitise newspapers and develop a collective
inventory a basis for selection
- 2005: pilot project by Royal Belgian Library (KBR) and City
of Brussels digitising Le Soir (250.000 pages, 1887-1970)
- 2006: project was split up between EHC
(Abraham project) and KBR / SOMA

12. Belgica / Belgian War Press
- 2006: Federal government (Belspo) granted 4,5 million EUR
for digitisation
- 2012: 3,2 million pages of 70 newspapers (1831-1950) are
digitised, but “only” available in the reading room of the
KBR
- 2012: SOMA launches the Belgian War Press database
( warpress.cegesoma.be ) with digitised clandestine
newspapers from both world wars

13. VIAA – News of the Great War
- due to the Great War commemorations VIAA – Flemish
Institute for Archiving initiates a project to digitise all
Belgian press between 1914 and 1918
- collaboration between VIAA, FARO, PACKED, Flemish
Heritage Library and 13 content providers
- 2013: inventory based upon Abraham and further research
- 2014: digitising more than 300.000 pages in addition to the
Belgian War Press (SOMA) scans

14. Other (paper) digitisations
- Local newspapers: cities of Aalst, Ieper, Diksmuide, …
- Regional newspapers: Gazet van Antwerpen / Mechelen
- Alamire Foundation: musical heritage (manuscripts of
polyphonic music, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)
- Itinera Nova: digitisation of 1128 city registers of Leuven
(1362-1795), www.itineranova.be

15. Other (paper) digitisations
- UB Gent:
- digitisation of historical manuscripts:
* landscape photography (www.recollectinglandscapes.be)
* topographic collection
* Antifonarium Tsgrooten (www.antifonarium-tsgrooten.be)
* Liber Floridus (www.liberfloridus.be)
- Google Books project: scanning 300.000 copyright free books
(lib.ugent.be/en/project-google.shtml)

16. DIVA / VERDI
- audiovisual archives of the VRT (Flemish Public
Broadcaster)
- 2008-2011: digitisation of 13.000h of audio and 6.200h of
video (out of a grand total of 90.000h of audio and
170.000h of video)
- 2012-2013: digitisation of all radio journals and DAT-tapes
(1975-2006)
- 2013: collaboration agreement with VIAA

17. VIAA
- Flemish Institute for (Audiovisual) Archiving
- founded in 2012 by the Flemish government
- follow-up of research projects BOM-VL, Archipel and
digitisation projects DIVA / VERDI
- ambition to digitise 600.000h of audio and video
- collaboration between media sector and heritage sector
- introduction video: www.viaa.be

18. Cinematek
- = Royal Belgian Film Archive
- repository and digitisation of film, especially those
threatened by acid or vinegar syndrome
- digitising funded by Federal government (Belspo) or
European projects (e.g. European Film Gateway 1914-1918)

19. Digital Archiving

20. DAVID
- DAVID
- Digital Archiving for Flemish Institutions and Services
- research project (2000-2003) funded by Max Wildiers Fund and
conducted by FelixArchief and ICRI
- manual with practical and legal guidelines for digital archiving
- cDAVID
- research project (2004-2007) funded by the Flemish government
and conducted by FelixArchief
- manual with guidelines on digitising cultural heritage

21. DAVID
- eDAVID
- Expertisecentrum DAVID, founded in 2006 as a non-profit
organisation linked to FelixArchief and funded by the Flemish
government
- research projects:
* digital depot (2006-2009): functional, organisational and legal
aspects of a digital repository
* CEST (2009-2010): toolbox of cultural heritage
standards, in collaboration with PACKED

22. PACKED
- founded in 2005 by Argos, MuHKA, SMAK and MDD as a
platform for collaboration on archiving and conservation of
audiovisual arts
- 2006-2010: funded by the Flemish government as a
nationwide centre of expertise
- 2010-2011: collaboration with eDAVID on CEST-toolbox
- 2011-…: funded as a centre of expertise on digital
heritage

23. BOM-VL
- Conservation and Dissemination of Multimedia in Flanders
- research project (2008-2009) funded by the Flemish
government
- goal: solutions for long-term preservation of audiovisual
archives
- first project combining media and cultural heritage sector
- follow-up projects:
- Vlaanderen in Beeld (media partners)
- Archipel (cultural partners)

24. Archipel
-“Network-centric approach to sustainable digital archives”
- research project (2009-2011) funded by the Flemish
government and conducted by FARO and IBBT
- follow-up of BOM-VL
- goal: prove that offered solutions are sustainable while
connecting small and larger archives
- teaser: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHk_hCBEsM0

25. Other
- SODA:
- research project (2012-2013), funded by the Flemish government,
conducted by AMVB
- roadmap for the deposit of digital archives in small archives
- SIP Creator:
- development project (2012-2013), funded by the Flemish
government, executed by Ghent University Library
- open source tool to create Submission Information
Packages (SIP’s)

26. Digital repositories
- FelixArchief (Antwerp)
- University Library Ghent
- Flemish Parliament
- LIAS-consortium (KADOC/KULeuven)
- VIAA (project Trustworthy Digital Repository)

27. ADVN & NISE

28. ADVN: a two-track policy
- digitising on demand:
- in-house scanning / reproduction of individual items for patrons,
publications, exhibitions, website etc.
- selected digitisation (in-house for scanable items,
outsourced for audiovisual items):
- series of items of an identical format (flags, big posters etc.)
- series of items from one archive or thematic collection
- participating in regional or nationwide initiatives like
VIAA

29. NISE: sharing knowledge
- Expertise and Information Centre (EIC):
- establishing an international network of archives and libraries
- promoting exchange of best practices and experiences
- support and participation in international projects
- … (always open for suggestions)