The CPRDP has three archives: the news archive, the video library and the historical archive. Until a year ago, these archives did not share information through the Center's intranet, had different databases and lacked the infrastructure, such as vaults with temperature and humidity control or video transfer units, for conservation and space for administrative and technical activities.
Since then, several areas have been strengthened to organize and modernize the infrastructure and services of the historical archive. During the last fourteen months, a group of four people has carried out activities such as inventory, material cleaning, information capture, cataloging and equipment acquisition. There are also now infrastructure elements such as two transfer units, 2 cargo containers were reconditioned in 2 storage tanks with refrigeration, an "Office Wagon" as an office herd, the remodeling of the facilities of the Historical Archive and a media asset management system. Rosario Albert comments: "Infrastructure is as important as the search for a strategic vision that harmonizes the requirements of transmission and management of audio-visual content with those other requirements of conservation and preservation."
The historical collection consists of more than 7000 films and videotapes dating back to 1955. Today, the scope and size of the collection is known through catalogs and a first-generation database. The asset management system is scheduled to become operational in February 2004 and by June 2004 the project will be completed with infrastructure, personnel and procedures in place.
Digital workflow
The strategic objective of the project is to establish a Documentation Center as a component within the CPRDP workflow. On August 12, the CPRDP inaugurated its Angel Documentation Center. Rivera, in honor of one of the first television directors who had the station and who still today remains active in the Historical Archive. "Under the Documentation Center is the Radio Archive, Historical Archive, Video Library and the News Archive."
The asset management project is considered strategic within the process of digitizing the television station's facilities. "By starting with the Historical Archive, we can implement the media management project with parameters specific to a historical film and video collection. After that experience, the staff of the Documentation Center will be able to obtain a more specific and practical knowledge about the problems and advantages of one or another solution when approaching the daily activity of the television station. From that perspective, we will be in a better position to take on the station's workflow that includes programming, engineering – with its broadcast servers – and post-production dependencies."
The CPRDP asset management project involves a different understanding of how a television archive should work within a station's flow. This is a comprehensive solution that meets access as well as conservation needs.
Traditionally, the archive is the last point in the production chain of a television station. Generally, a researcher receives requests for a video segment without having an understanding of the use of that segment. "We think that our archive, our researchers, should be at the beginning of the production phase, as part of the production team that is where content is produced. They are researchers and archivists, but they are also distributors of information."
