As presented by Claire Coss and Simon Rooks at the 2018 FIAT/IFTA World Conference in Venice.

1. D E+
CLAIRE COSS & SIMON ROOKS, BBC ARCHIVES
12TH OCTOBER 2018
FIAT/ IFTA WORLD CONFERENCE 2018 VENICE
Re-shaping BBC Archives to secure content & inspire creativity

2. 1
ARCHIVES IN THE BBC
BBC
Archives
BBC TV, Radio, Online
BBCArchiveEditorial
BBCHistory
BBCStudiosCommercial

3. 2
ARCHIVES PRE-TRANSITION
Governance
& Policy
Delivery
Services
Media
Management
Media
Managers Stores
Tech Serves
Cataloguing
External Rels
Doc Archives
Research
Intake
Requirements Customer Support
330
Enquiries

4. 3
BBC ARCHIVES TODAY
AV&
Radio
Collections
Music
Image
& Doc
Collections
Digital
Archive
Services
Tech
Services
Stores
Services
Data
Services
230
Collections
Strategy
Commissioned
Deliverables
Contracts
& Rels
230
Operating Model
Access
ASSURE
Analytics&
Bus intel

5. 4
• Adapting to a changing BBC
• Simplification of structures, roles and processes
• Digital focus to support an ‘internet first’ BBC
• Reduce costs
DRIVERS FOR TRANSITION

6. 5
OUR APPROACH
• Re-validate our enduring purpose
• Articulate our Vision & Values
• Analyse, challenge and review everything
• Re-calibrate structure and resources

7. 6
WHAT WE DID
• A new structure based on clear functions
• A new Archives ‘Job Family’
• Reduction in managers of 49%
• Collections strategy
• Proactive not reactive ethos
• Preservation & Digitisation review prioritisation
• Withdrawal from embedded Media Management
• Rebalanced resources and priorities pan-Archives

8. 7
FOCUSING ON OUR COLLECTIONS
• Digital acquisition and assured storage
• Self-service research and access by users and digital delivery of content
• Collection knowledge and collection-building capability
• Accurate catalogue and stock data to support archival management
• Conservation care plans for all physical assets
• Digital preservation

9. 8
COLLECTIONS STRATEGY – A DEPARTMENT BUILT
AROUND CONTENT COLLECTIONS
• Proactive engagement with Commissioners and Editorial –
take content to them
• Responding to Commissioning’s Creative Calendar early on
• Allocate and prioritise resource
• Collaborate in collection building with production and editorial
• Collaborate within Archives – creating multi-media collections
of depth and breadth

10. 9
PRIORITISATION FOR DIGITISATION
• Still much of the BBC’s archive to digitise and preserve
• Collections strategy supports how we prioritise what needs to
be digitised through the selection of assets
• Allows us to digitise to known user needs
• We have invested in kit and resource – photo scanning,
expansion of digibeta kit, digitising on demand

11. 10
TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES
• No functionality within our systems for collections for photos
or radio or for hosting multi-asset collections
• Some AV assets are not available within our Digital Archive
for selection
• Resourceful archivists are not deterred!
• Making use of other content sharing sites to build collections
and collaborate

12. 11
• No single delivery
portal – that doesn’t
stop us
• Pop Icons 70+ for
biogs and obits
• Unseen &
undiscovered –
Morecambe & Wise
• Connected collections
focus
• 2022: 100 years of the
BBC
COLLECTIONS IN ACTION #1

13. 12
having the resource already available
when Aretha passed away was
extremely useful...
...allowed us to bring context and tribute
about her to the 6Music audience very
quickly
...it gave producers great creative
choices and confidence, knowing that
the resource was there.
COLLECTIONS IN ACTION #2