Information Literacy Book Review

     Paradoxes of Media and Information Literacy: The Crisis of Information was written in 2022 by Jutta Haider, Professor at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science - University in Borås and Olof Sundin, Professor of Information Studies at Lund University in Sweden. The book analyzes how media and information literacy can assist in the current crisis of information. Haider and Sundin begin with an introduction on this crisis stating that information is becoming more individualized based on a person’s interests, who they follow, and who they interact with (2022, p. 4). The algorithms of artificial intelligence can tap into this information to recommend and favor content that will be re-shared and/or interacted with while ignoring whether the information is factual or accurate (Haider and Sundin, 2022, p. 7). Emotional and engaging content is more important to social media companies because it will be continually shared leading to more profits. On top of this, people are questioning their trust in institutions and leaders as more mis- and dis- information becomes more prevalent.

     Haider & Sundin then go on to define and describe media and information literacy. Information literacy supports “people’s knowledge, competencies, and resources in order to enable their proficient engagement with information, including finding, evaluating, producing, and communicating situated information” (Haider & Sundin, 2022, p. 11). Media literacy “focuses on production, circulation, access, and meaning” (Haider & Sundin, 2022, p. 12). The next five chapters present five paradoxes or “zones of contradictions” necessary to navigate to achieve media and information literacy. Haider & Sundin based their book on research conducted through several interviews with young adults and parents while asking questions about their search behaviors and beliefs about algorithms & literacy. In addition, they analyzed data acquired through Google Search and Google Trends. Their theories are also backed up by hundreds of peer-reviewed articles to strengthen their arguments and further the discussion.

     The first paradox presented places the responsibility onto the individual to become information literate. Three different types of information evaluators are presented: non-evaluator (never questions anything), pragmatic evaluator (thinks about the trust and distrust of a source), and skeptical evaluator (never trusts anything). Haider & Sundin state that most people should strive to be a pragmatic evaluator because they are likely to be a “well-educated, self-confident person, knowing what and how to trust and gauging information against well-establish and socially accepted value systems and norms” (2022, p.36). Libraries and information centers can help people become pragmatic evaluators by “providing quality books [and] providing tools for citizens to steer clear of harmful information” (Haider and Sundin, 2022, p. 26).

     The second paradox is one of normativity or the “goal of advancing social justice and equity” through information literacy (Haider & Sundin, 2022, p. 61). The idea of intrinsic plausibility is introduced by the authors and states that a person is likely to believe information based on what they already know. It is difficult for society to advance when people have varying beliefs and opinions. People respond to information depending on their group identity (Haider and Sundin, 2022, p. 64). These group identities are continually shaped and strengthened by artificial intelligence algorithms which help “form society’s information infrastructure” (Haider and Sundin, 2022, p. 66).

     The third paradox is temporality which looks at media and information literacy and its relationship to the past while anticipating how it will operate in the future. Haider & Sundin found in their interviews that people try and imagine how an algorithm operates and attempt to change it (2022, p. 76). For social media advertising, if they do not like the content they are receiving, they will search for new things which trigger new ads. As the information explosion continues to grow into the future, “expertise depends as much on the ability to ignore as it does on content intake” (Haider and Sundin, 2022, p. 87). Being able to sort and reject mis- and irrelevant information continues to be one of the greatest tasks to date.

     The fourth paradox is trust and the role that libraries and educational institutions play in promoting media and information literacy. Haider & Sundin argue that lessons on how to properly search and evaluate information are severely lacking or non-existent (2022, p. 109). Libraries can educate the population by providing workshops on technology, artificial intelligence, and how to evaluate information and spot mis- and disinformation.

     The fifth and final paradox presented is that of maintaining neutrality and how media and information literacy can work towards creating a better democracy. Haider & Sundin explore how the country of Sweden has done their best to educate the public and bring awareness to the concept of source criticism or the ability to evaluate information for truth and integrity (2022, p. 120). In Sweden, it is the belief that everyone must self-contribute to make the country safer collectively.

     Paradoxes of Media and Information Literacy: The Crisis of Information presented a lot of evidence and was very persuasive with its arguments that media and information literacy can only be solved through navigating the five paradoxes. I agree with almost all the points they presented. The authors are clearly an authority on the subject with their background as Professors of Information Studies. I found that their information background influenced me as I strived to understand their points from an MLIS student perspective. With that being said, I did feel that the five paradoxes became too complex by dedicating a chapter for each one. I found myself getting lost in what they were trying to argue with too much information. It was not until going through my notes and highlighted quotes that I really began to understand what they were trying to convey with each paradox. The irony is that there was too much information in this book about information. I believe they could have gotten their point across more clearly and succinctly in a focused article with a section on each paradox. I would recommend this book to scholars and students studying information literacy, but not to a general audience interested in the subject. The material becomes too complex after the introductory chapter which is too bad because the book has ideas that would benefit everyone. I did enjoy piecing together the book and appreciate that it is open access for all to discover. 

Reference

Haider, J., and Sundin, O. (2022). Paradoxes of media and information literacy: The crisis of information. Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003163237

Orphan Film Symposium

Introduction

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Orphan Film Symposium: All-Television Edition hosted by NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. It was a two-day event that featured six different segments showcasing orphan television programs. The UCLA library defines orphan works as “neglected works, many previously unpreserved because their owners have abandoned them, or because no copyright holder could be found” (UCLA Film & Television Archive). Through the hard work of many film and television archives, these once considered abandoned and copyright-complicated works can live on and find new audiences. Many of the clips at the symposium had never been seen or screened before.

Four Arguments for the Preservation of Television

The program began with an introduction by May Hong HaDuong, the Director of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Dan Streible, professor of NYU’s Cinema Studies then led an introductory discussion on television with the question: Is streaming television? We often think of shows and series on streaming platforms as T.V. shows but if they are not broadcast over the air or live, should they still be considered television? The symposium was set up in homage to the “Television Party Fad of 1949” where people gathered in groups to watch television programming. This opening segment titled Four Arguments for the Preservation of Television was a play on words based on the 1978 book by Jerry Mander, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. Mander’s (1978) four arguments to cancel television include:

1. Television deprives humanity of their senses

2. People use television as a scapegoat

3. Television promotes Capitalism

4. All of the above

The segment then proceeded with four presenters showcasing programs that reveal the importance of television preservation.

Jeffrey Bickel from the UCLA Film & Television Archive screened newly digitized clips from the Hearst Metrotone News Collection. This collection is made up of 27 million feet of newsreels. The archive is currently in the process of a mass digitization effort with 4K scans of the collection. They have currently digitized 15% of the collection which can be browsed, searched, and streamed for personal and educational use here: https://newsreels.net/ Accessibility is their main goal with this important collection.

Mark Quigley of the UCLA Film & Television Archive showcased promotional clips from an episode of Playhouse 90, a CBS drama with many notable Hollywood stars. Mike Mashon from the Library of Congress brought four television pilot shows. He revealed that television rights are a mess with so many components making it difficult to stream and upload online (Mashon, 2023). Many of the known pilots out there are donated from private collectors. Though something could be considered missing, anything could show up at any time through donations. The highlight of these pilots was the screening of an entire pilot episode titled It’s Joey. This ABC pilot from 1954 is reminiscent in style to I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver but adds the element of a full-on musical. It features lead Joel Grey as a young adult navigating the struggles of everyday life while dreaming of the move to New York City to become a big Broadway star (not unlike Lucy). The songs and musical numbers, including one about not having the skills for any job in the wanted ads, were fabulous and one of the best things I have ever seen. I am hoping for a way that the Library of Congress can stream this in the future. Also notable was a trailer for a pitched show titled Some Like It Hot, which is based on the Billy Wilder film of the same name. It takes place where the film left off and tells the story of how Joe and Jerry run from the Mafia after plastic surgery.

This segment concluded with a presentation by Ruta Abolins from the University of Georgia, Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collections who brought a clip from WJCL Savannah. This local 1971 broadcast from the program Community Profile revealed an authentic interview between a young black man who interviewed musical icon James Brown. It was chilling to see an authentic local interview which showcased Brown as he really was. At one point, Brown was not happy with the interviewer because he was “not asking the right questions.” It turned into almost a lecture and reverse interview for this young black man because Brown wanted to make sure he acknowledged his own struggles he faces as a person of color in America. James was pushing for even greater equality and human rights. Although he was tough, he ended by telling the interviewer “You’re beautiful, and I love you,” which became a closing statement for many of the segments of the symposium. These types of local interviews have the power to show another side of celebrities through a smaller, more -down-to-Earth format.

Early and Local Televisions

This segment began with Daniela Currò from the University of South Carolina, Moving Image Research Collections. Currò brought clips from the Fox Movietone News collection https://digital.library.sc.edu/collections/fox-movietone-news-collection/ which feature many films on technological pioneers. One of the standouts of these was a two-way television program by Bell Laboratories from May 1930. Through their technology, they were able to do a person-to-person chat viewable on a television. This is one of the original zoom calls or Facetime sessions and shows just how advanced technology was back then even though it took nearly a century to become commonplace. Film and television pioneers were certainly visionaries.

Margaret A. Compton from the University of Georgia, Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collections brought a clip from a Purex Block-Buster Show made for WAGA Atlanta in 1958. One of the funny things of this clip was that it had “Air-Check: Not to be shown” written on the reel. This shows that footage that was never meant to be seen could be used for valuable research later making television archives important. One of the things Compton stressed was that advertisements and commercials were heavily targeted to women of this era since they were the stay-at-home mothers consuming this content. This clip shows a man phoning typical housewives and asking them severely simple questions for the time (One question: What was Irving Berlin’s famous Easter song? Answer: Easter Parade), and after they won would receive free Purex laundry detergent. If they already had a bottle in their home, they would be the “talk of the street” because everyone on the block would receive a free bottle.

One of the highlights of the entire symposium was Caroline Frick’s (University of Texas at Austin) and Laura Treat’s (University of California Santa Barbara) presentation titled Local News Preservation: A Legacy of Salvage & Loss. They present the argument that the top challenge in the country for moving image collections is local news content. Frick & Treat (2023) reveal that 90% of all local television content produced before 1995 is either missing, has been disregarded, or destroyed. On top of that, only 25% of all local stations have retained or donated footage to archives, and at least three states do not collect any content at all (Frick & Treat, 2023). Frick & Treat provide three challenges to local news preservation:

1. Funding: it is expensive and time consuming to digitize content

2. Obsolescence: formats, particularly from the 80s and 90s are difficult to process, and there are not many people who are able to maintain the equipment that can read these formats

3. Copyright: most local news content has a lack of clarity when it comes to copyright; nobody wants to get in trouble, so it is easier to ignore the content

4. Information: many times there is no information or records stored with the clips and they are often labeled incorrectly

After challenge 4 was the perfect time to show a clip they found titled Batman. It ended up being a woman trying to rescue her cat named “Batman” who was stuck in a tree. Although humorous, it was an impactful way to showcase the struggle with figuring out how to manage and add metadata to this wealth of content. How can somebody find it is they do not know is exists? Some of the local news content that is worth preserving includes political campaigns, local broadcasting specials, and sports which are complex due to the trademarks involved. Frick & Treat ended their segment with a screening of a 1996 local San Antonio casting call for the movie Selena which showed many Hispanic hopefuls interviewing for a chance to be cast in the film. They ended their presentation with the plea that local news preservation is important because local car commercials have the ability to bring the nation together (Frick & Treat, 2023).

Women Make Television

https://carollaneproject.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=578aad3d851746909c6c5a83da691f13

This segment featured different ways women have helped television become what it is. AV Archivist Melissa Dollman brought a clip of a Carol Lane Tourette called Traveling with Children. Carole Lane was a nationwide program by Shell Oil featuring different regional women who provided travel tips including a Tourette. “’Tourette’ is a term Carol Lane used for short two-day, or weekend, trips by automobile” (Dollman, 2021). A Tourette is any short trip that is 200 miles or less from home and one that can be budget friendly. In many ways it was the precursor to the staycation where one travels not too far from home and discovers that which is in their own backyard.

Maya Montañez Smukler from the UCLA Film & Television Archive brough a clip of Mary McAdoo at Home from NBC in 1953. Mary McAdoo’s television program featured content that appealed to the average American homemaker, not housewife. This particular clip featured Mary with special guest Edith Head, one of the most famous costume designers from the Golden Age of Hollywood, teaching women how to dress whether they are ‘short, tall, skinny, or fat’. Though this does not age as well as some other clips, it really reveals how women were viewed during this era.

https://barbarahammer.com/performances/t-v-tart/

Amy Villarejo from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television brough Barbara Hammer’s T.V. Tart from 1988. This was an experimental performance film that focuses on eating, body politics, perception, and distortion. “The video critiques excessive sugar intake and the similarities of empty calories in sweets and TV programs” (Hammer). Television is like sugar because it is full of exploitation & destruction but is also shiny & colorful. (Villarejo). This experimental program is an important work for feminist Hammer who was also film pioneer for queer cinema.

Juana Suárez from NYU’s Moving Image Archive and Preservation Program brought clips from the documentary film series Yuruparí directed by Gloria Triana. This series features 64 documentaries (48 in 16mm and 16 in U-Matic). They are in the process of digitizing the entire series thanks to a grant from FIAF/IFTA and in partnership with Proimágenes Colombia. It has been a struggle because they are working alongside the Colombian government, currently in turmoil, for the preservation. They are also cataloguing the segments of each episode alongside the community and letting them decide what happens to the material out of respect for the Colombians depicted.

L.A. Indie TV

Shawne West of California State University, Dominguez Hills & Mark Quigley of the UCLA Film & Television Archive showcased a clip from the UCLA Tom Reed Collection of the show Tom Reed’s For Members Only which was broadcast weekly on KSCI UHF Channel 18 from 1981-2011. This series has recently been digitized & catalogued and showcases black-themed music and news. It is an important historical record for the black experience in Los Angeles.

https://www.frieze.com/article/tenemos-asco-oral-history-chicano-art-group

Chon Noriega from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television showcased a local Los Angeles film program that was part of Asco, an East Los Angeles Chicano art movement which was “inspired by the Chicano civil-rights movement and reacting to police violence against people of colour in 1970s and ’80s Los Angeles” (Carrillo et al. 2022). These programs were quickly shot, edited, and ready for broadcast in just under 48 hours. Because of this quick pace, very few of these programs survive and many of them were left behind, erased, or stolen. Imperfecto from 1983 was screened with actor Humberto Sandoval in the audience and director Harry Gamboa, Jr. who joined Chon on stage for a panel discussion afterward. Mr. Gamboa (2023) states that archives with these types of television programming are essential for preservation to pay respect to history. The Asco Chicano arts movement helped give a voice to the Hispanic population in this difficult era of Los Angeles history.

Television at the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian Institution is made up of 21 museums whose records are all housed under the Smithsonian Institution Archives division. Under this division, an Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative (AVMPI) has been established with the inclusion of a 5-year plan (2021-2026) to prioritize digitization. Five goals (Smithsonian Institution) were also established alongside this strategic plan and include:

1. Develop a centralized space dedicated to the conservation and preservation transfer of Smithsonian audio, video, and film collections

2. Prioritize audiovisual collections for preservation based on format degradation and content value

3. Create standard, pan-institutional workflows for the management of AVMPI to maximize the use of resources

4. Ensure institutional preparedness for digital preservation and increased storage needs

5. Promote the overall mission of the Smithsonian Institution by increasing access to digitized audiovisual collections 

Franklin A. Robinson, Jr. from the National Museum of American History brough a clip of Meet Me at Disneyland from the Smithsonian Archives which was a live broadcast from KTTV from 1962. This is the only known survivor of a 13-episode run that features rare footage from Disneyland including a cameo by Fred MacMurray joining the saxophone quarter with his saxophone. As a current Disneyland cast member, it was chilling to see footage of Walt Disney that has never been seen since its original broadcast.

Blake McDowell from the National Museum of African American History and Culture brought a selection of clips from the archives including promo titles, animations, a rare interview with poet Sonia Sanchez and A Dialogue Between a Black and a Jew featuring Zev Putterman and Ishmael Reed. It was illuminating to hear of the struggles that each have felt being Jewish and black in America while comparing and contrasting their experiences.

Black Women’s Genius

Ellen Scott from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television presented an episode of The American Parade, a TV Mini Series produced between 1974–1976, in celebration of the Bicentennial of the United States. The episode chosen was Sojourner, which tells the story of Sojourner Truth who travels the country for the abolition of slavery. Though this series was considered a youth program, writer Bill Gunn crafts a moving performance by Vinnette Justine Carroll making it an unforgettable essential body of work. This episode is also a fine example of intersectional feminism. It is with further research that I learned Vinnette Justine Carroll was also the first African American woman to direct on Broadway. During the screening, a brief snippet of the cut to commercial break was left in to show the intentional stark contrast between the content of the show and its advertising. These contrasts were/are often intentional and are heavily considered during broadcast to make a statement.

Josslyn Luckett of NYU’s Cinema Studies brough clips from Black Power Television that were directed by visionary Stan Lathan, who was in the audience. The episodes featured were Alice Coltrane: Black Journal 26 (1970) and Abbey Lincoln, Black Journal 23 (1970) originally broadcast on WNET. Lathan was one of the first people to give black women a voice. Through these clips, it is easy to understand Alice and Abbey and become absorbed with who they were as artists, wives, mothers, family members, and their relationships with religion and spirituality. Black independent television allowed black women to be “authentically themselves” (Luckett). The symposium concluded with a performance of Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash, and Patti LaBelle from 1972’s Shades of Soul, Part 2.

Conclusion

It was wonderful to be able to see so many rare television clips from film and media archives across the country. It also felt exclusive, yet strange to see so much content that nobody has ever seen. The clips showcased content from any area imaginable including local tv news, commercials, newsreel outtakes, failed network pilots, black history, women in television, and Chicano tv among many others. Like all archives, film & television archives matter because people matter. They also have the same issues of budget, lack of funding, small staff, format obsolescence, and lack of description as other archives. Television is to be able to represent marginalized groups much better than other film outputs because it allows people to tell their stories in different ways. This could be because it is cheaper and more accessible to create content that is originally not intended to live beyond original broadcast. It is also easier to reach a wider audience quickly. Because the content is often produced with smaller budgets and less time, the content is likely to be disregarded or lost. This makes it essential to put budgets, time, and energy into ensuring the survival of orphaned television works. These orphans can bring people together by teaching the past. In this modern world, it seems we are moving back in time, but watching all these wonderful clips gives me hope that if we can study and preserve these works, there is hope moving forward for a brighter future. The other biggest challenge facing these works is copyright. Many of these works cannot be streamed or put online due to complex copyright. If copyright law were reformed, it would allow these works to have a home and no longer be lost. Overall, this symposium allowed me to understand the true value of film and television archives with a greater appreciation by seeing a variety of works I would never even thought existed.

References

Carrillo, S., Gamboa, H., Jr., Herrón, W., Nicandro, G., Sandoval, H. Terrill, J., & Valdez, P. (2022, January 4). ¡Tenemos asco!: An oral history of the chicano art group. Frieze. https://www.frieze.com/article/tenemos-asco-oral-history-chicano-art-group

Dollman, M. (2021). Changing lanes: A reanimation of shell oil’s carol lane. Carol Lane Project. https://carollaneproject.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=578aad3d851746909c6c5a83da691f13

Frick, C. & Treat, L. (2023, April 21-22). Local news preservation: A legacy of salvage & loss. (Conference presentation). Orphan Film Symposium: All-Television Edition, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Gamboa, H., Jr. (2023, April 21-22). L.a. indie tv. (Conference presentation). Orphan Film Symposium: All-Television Edition, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Hammer, B. (n.d.). T.v. tart. Barbara Hammer. https://barbarahammer.com/performances/t-v-tart/

Luckett, J. (2023, April 21-22). Black women’s genius. (Conference presentation). Orphan Film Symposium: All-Television Edition, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Mander, J. (1978). Four arguments for the elimination of television. William Morrow Paperbacks

Mashon, M. (2023, April 21-22). Four arguments for the preservation of television. (Conference presentation). Orphan Film Symposium: All-Television Edition, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Smithsonian Institution (n.d.). Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative. Smithsonian Institution Archives. https://siarchives.si.edu/what-we-do/avmpi/goals

UCLA Film & Television Archive. Celebrating Orphan Films. https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2011-05-13/celebrating-orphan-films

Villarejo, A. (2023, April 21-22). Women make television. (Conference presentation). Orphan Film Symposium: All-Television Edition, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Missing Films

I really enjoyed the Liberating Lost Film panel discussion. I especially appreciated the 5 Questions to ask when determining if a film if considered lost:

1. Is the film available to watch online and to the general public?

2. Is the film available on DVD and/or BLU-RAY?

3. Is the price to buy or view the film affordable?

4. Is it a quality copy?

5. Can it be obtained legally?

These questions are crucial to come to a consensus on deciding what is really lost. I also loved how the presenters mentioned the film archives provide a false sense of security. When trying to access a film for their project, it was discovered that both copies of the film had been damaged. The archives themselves were not even aware that this had occurred. Since there are so many films in the vaults, it would be impossible to continually monitor each one to see its current status. This is pretty alarming since we can never truly rely on film archives to be 100% with no fault to the archives themselves which are doing the best they can for preservation.

When working on my filmography of Hollywood Musicals from the Studio System, one film I came across was Lady in the Dark. This 1944 film stars one of the most prominent female actresses of the 30s and 40s, Ginger Rogers, and tells the story of a magazine editor undergoing psychoanalysis. The film was a commercial success upon its release and an important Technicolor film from Paramount Pictures; however, it has never seen a release on home video for VHS, DVD, BLU-RAY, or streaming. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Cinematography, Music, and Art Direction. It is amazing to me that so many Academy Award-nominated films have remained ‘lost’. After going through the checklist of 5 questions, this film is definitely worthy of being added to the list of lost films. The only copy I was able to find was a low-quality YouTube stream which does not showcase the beautiful art design and costumes of this Technicolor production. A barrier to its release may be the fact that the film is based on a 1941 Broadway Musical of the same name. There may be complicated copyright issues related to the music and screenplay; however, something tells me there would just not be a big enough fan base to restore and release the film to its original glory.

Reference:

Film at Lincoln Center. (2023, January 9). Liberating lost films with Maya Cade, Ira Deutchman & more: NYFF60 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6d6OsJfF-c&t=2254s

It’s A Wonderful Life & Film Copyright

It’s A Wonderful Life is one of those timeless Christmas classics that many people watch year after year. It was directed by Frank Capra and debuted in theaters for Christmas in 1946. I came across this release while researching films in the public domain and was fascinated to learn that even though this film is available to the public for free, there are still many complications and stipulations with its copyright.

The film was released by Liberty Films which was founded by Frank Capra and Samuel J. Briskin. Liberty films only released two films, It’s A Wonderful Life and State of the Union. Even though It’s A Wonderful Life did modestly in theaters, it had such a large budget that it barely made a profit which helped lead to the failure of Liberty Films. Distribution rights to the film eventually went to RKO Radio Pictures and Paramount Pictures purchased the film and renewed the copyright in 1947 (Thuronyi). Republic Pictures ended up with the copyright after Paramount, but failed to renew the copyright, and the film became public domain in 1975. This follows the law at the time through the Copyright Act of 1909 and its Townsend Amendment 1912 which stated that a copyright was valid for 28 years once registered. It would have been eligible for another 28 years if copyright was filed before 1975. This is precisely why it became a yearly tradition shown on television: not because of its popularity but because it was free to air. This yearly showing would give it the reputation of a “holiday classic” (Thuronyi).

Although Republic Pictures lost copyright over the film, they somehow remembered to register copyright of the music and the story the film is based on called “The Greatest Gift” (Thuronyi). In 1993, “Republic Pictures notified all television networks to stop playing It’s a Wonderful Life without the payment of royalties” (Thuronyi). A licensing agreement was made with NBC where it still airs yearly.

This story reveals two interesting aspects about copyright. The first is that a film can gain popularity many years later just because it is in public domain making it free to screen not because it was loved when it came out. The second is that copyright has many different layers. Just because a film is in public domain, it does not mean other aspects of the film are also in public domain such as the source material and music.

This brings in interesting discussion on motion pictures and their copyright. “Because motion pictures are generally a collaborative effort, with many individuals contributing various creative efforts, they are typically deemed ‘joint works’” (Obradovich, 2016, p. 793). Even though the copyright for films are generally protected as a complete work despite numerous individual contributions, the Garcia v. Google case provided an interesting discussion about these individual copyrights. Republic Pictures claim that It’s A Wonderful Life is not in public domain because of its story and soundtrack which are protected leading to further discussions on the copyright of films and their individual elements separately copyrighted. “Many motion pictures include songs written and performed long before the film was created or even imagined” (Obradovich, 2016, p. 810). This is how Republic Pictures can get away with the storyline being copyrighted since it originated from a story they then owned. “If the contribution can stand alone from the integrated work, then its creator can claim separate copyright protection” (Obradovich, 2016, p. 810). Since its soundtrack and score are a separate art form, they can also claim separate copyright for the music. The music can be used in more ways than just the background for this film.

References

Obradovich, D. C. (2016). Garcia v google: Authorship in copyright. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 31(2), 785 - 814. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26377772

Thuronyi, G. (2017, December 22). It’s a wonderful life | copyright: creativity at work. Library of Congress Blogs. https://blogs.loc.gov/copyright/2017/12/its-a-wonderful-life/

UCLA Film & Television Archive

UCLA Film & Television Archive

https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/

The UCLA Film & Television Archive dates to 1965 when “the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) joined forces with the UCLA Theater Arts Department to create the ATAS/UCLA Television Library” (UCLA). The Film Archive segment was soon added three years later by UCLA’s Film Department. The archive received three major donations in 1972 which helped it grow. These include the Jack Benny Television Collection, the Hallmark Hall of Fame Collection, and thousands of prominent television programs from Capitol Cities/ABC. The archive became even more established with the donation of the Paramount Pictures Nitrate Print Library in 1976 which included almost all films the studio produced between 1930 and 1950. Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Republic Pictures soon followed suit making this repository Hollywood’s most prominent and trusted. The archive continued to grow exponentially in the 1980s and 1990s beginning with the acquisition of the Hearst Metrotone News Collection which contains “more than 27 million feet (5,000 hours) of footage, documenting the fabric of life from 1915-1975” (UCLA).

Over the years, the UCLA Film & Television Archive has grown to include more than 350,000 motion pictures, 170,000 television programs, news footage, amateur films & home movies, 10,000 commercials, and radio programs. This makes it the second largest film repository in the United States. Located in the film capital of Los Angeles, California, the archive mainly collects works produced in the United States, though they do maintain a smaller international selection. Their collecting policy states that they accept works from “national, state and local institutions, commercial entities, independent artists and companies, and students and amateur filmmakers” (UCLA). Works must also meet certain “artistic, cultural, historic and/or socio-political significance” guidelines since they do not have infinite storage to collect everything (UCLA). A selection of typical formats include 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, 2-inch video reels, as well as born-digital materials. They accept tax-deductible donations as well as deposits known as permanent loans of materials. In addition to the films themselves, they also collect objects pertaining to film including scripts, studio records, and documents relating to cast & crew. A state-of-the-art archival facility opened in 2014 to house the entire UCLA Film & Television Archive in nearby Santa Clarita, California.

The UCLA archive launched a preservation division in 1977 and began restoration on “Hollywood classics, documentaries, contemporary independent productions and cutting edge works of international cinema” (UCLA). They have won numerous awards for their hundreds of Golden Age films, and early television program restorations, which have included classics such as Double Indemnity by Billy Wilder, Stagecoach by John Ford, and The Dinah Shore Show. The archive is currently working on full negative restorations of the iconic comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.

A free UCLA Festival of Preservation was launched in 1988 allowing the public to see restoration efforts up close. The festival allows the public to view rare films, but it also boosts the morale of the staff who can experience their hard work on a larger scale (Rosen, 2002). Continuing public outreach and accessibility, the archive opened the Archive Research and Study Center (ARSC) in 1989, providing research access to the public by way of the UCLA Library. They began releasing DVDs of their restored films in 2005 bridging the gap for those unable to attend in-person screenings. Keeping up with the times, the archive began streaming content online in 2011. The 2019 merge with the UCLA Library allowed the archive to promote teaching and learning while expanding access “through the Library’s robust digital platforms” (UCLA). Several film databases are available to browse online and many of the collections are digitized.  

Robert Rosen, UCLA Film & Television Archive director for many years, helped the archive expand from a humble storage facility to the famous powerhouse it is today. He published a retrospective on what he learned about film preservation over many years. Rosen believed that the archive was able to achieve great success, based on its open access to everyone in the community through its library research and public screenings, its collaboration among sister film archives instead of competition, and its ability to quickly embrace innovative technological advances (Rosen, 2002). This sense of direction helped the UCLA Film & Television grow into its status as one of the best film archives around the world.

References

Rosen, R. (2002). The UCLA film & television archive: A retrospective look. The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, 2(2), 116-121. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41167085

UCLA Film & Television Archive. (n.d.). About the archive. https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/about-the-archive

Personal Reflection on Archives

I wanted to pursue my MLIS degree after stumbling upon an archivist job posting in the Summer of 2021. It was my dream job, but I never really understood what would be involved in the role of an actual archivist or what the job would really entail. I had always thought archiving was the process of saving everything but had never given much thought to what would actually be saved. I was shocked to learn that only 2-5% of a corporation’s documents are typically saved for the archives. This made me change my whole view on what is important in a way that changed the how I think about my own personal files and documents. With digital data growing at an exponential rate, it is important to consider what is necessary and become highly organized.

I enjoyed that this class began by interviewing a working archive professional. I gained valuable knowledge from Sarah Quigley, the Director of Special Collections & Archives at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It was from her that I learned that an archivist is not a solitary job. I had always pictured an archivist alone in the archives, but she explained that the opposite is true. Archivists must have great social skills and collaborate with a variety of people. This includes showing users how to use and access collections, working alongside those in your current administration, working with other archivists by exchanging knowledge, as well as promoting archives to share how essential they are for preservation. Sarah also stressed learning management skills because these are essential to all careers in life. She herself had never learned managerial skills at school and explained that it is harder to acquire those skills on the job.

Before this class, I had never really understood the different types of archives like institutional versus collecting archives. My preconception was that university archives contained only the information important to that specific university so was not originally interested in them. The lectures in this class alongside my interview with Sarah revealed that university archives often contain the important information for their geographical location. In the case for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, they contain photographs and documents pertaining to casinos, architecture, entertainment, costume designs, mining and railroad history. It also holds global information on gaming data and statistics in its Center for Gaming Research. I am now super interested in university archives and what is contained in their collections. They often contain a region’s most important cultural treasures.

I was surprised to learn about the complexity of digitization in archives. I assumed that the future was making all records available online digitally, but this is not realistic or beneficial. It takes so much time and money to digitize materials, and they need to be properly described with metadata so they can be accessible by keyword. Copyright is also a barrier since the content of the records could be protected or nearly impossible to find out. When researching articles for the Archives in the News assignment, I came across one talking about archiving Ukraine’s cultural heritage. People from across the world have come together to archive the information contained in the government and historical websites of Ukraine. Until reading this, I had also never considered the fragility of digital information. Even though things are online and stored in the cloud, they are not necessarily there forever if the people that maintain the files are no longer able to manage them. Computers, servers, and the cloud can be destroyed or hacked. Not everything on the internet is also actively saved so there should be rules and policies in place to ensure information and data is securely backed up.

The fact that archives were so focused on use was also new to me since I often thought that preservation and saving things was more important than using them. Archivists must make difficult decisions on how documents should be handled and stored so that they can endure the hands of time.

Selection is one area I would love to learn more about. This includes selecting exactly what should be chosen for preservation. I understand that there could not possibly be any standardized rules for acquisition since people come from different perspectives and institutions have policies in place; however, it would be nice to have a starter’s acquisition guide to serve as a starting point for what could have enduring value. I would also be curious to learn about the decisions involved in what archives decide to digitize and make available online. This depends on the policy of the institution, collection at hand, and budget of course, but more theories would be valuable to learn.   

Between this class and my other this semester, Enterprise Content Management & Digital Preservation, collaboration was the theme that kept coming up. Having a network of people is crucial for learning about career opportunities and exchanging information. I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments in the discussion each module and seeing all the different points of view. Collaboration is also important because nobody can have all the skills for every area. It is important to have different people in place for managing archives, processing collections, creating policies, digitization, creating marketing plans, social media, information technology, and many other skills. With the current trend of community-based archives, archivists can collaborate by sharing knowledge with these often-amateur archivists which will strengthen all archives in return.

This class provided me with valuable information that can be applicable to any information profession such as the selection & organization of materials, maintaining original order, and ways to describe documents so they can be found. It laid the foundation for creating institutional policies, revealed issues surrounding ethics and copyright, taught about users and their searching behaviors, ways to acquire grants and funding, and the importance of social media for promotion. These are just a few of the essential skills that can be transferred to any career in information science. Another important lesson was that of lifelong learning. With technology and formats changing at an exponential rate, it is crucial to stay current or risk falling behind. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and look forward how I can contribute to the global future of archiving.

Black History & Modern Archives

How Black archives are highlighting overlooked parts of history and culture is a CNN news story from February 2022 written by Harmeet Kaur. It looks at how “both amateurs and professionals have made Black history – and the process of preserving it – more accessible” (Kaur, 2022). Since the Black Lives Matter protests from the Summer 2020, many amateurs have created social media accounts that highlight Black history. Instead of posting images that depict pain and trauma, these accounts feature the everyday lives of African Americans allowing people to catch a “glimpse into Black life over the last century” (Kaur, 2022). Black history often gets forgotten and left behind. These creators can help create a positive change by showcasing these once forgotten images. They are curating photos that have the potential to been seen and re-shared by millions.

These efforts go beyond photography with the Black Film Archive created by Maya Cade. Her main purpose was to “specifically expand Black people’s knowledge of Black cinema – that anyone else might find that information interesting was just the cherry on top” (Kaur, 2022). Spreading knowledge among one’s own community is a great starting point when defining your target followers and users. If you can reach an even greater audience, that is the ultimate goal since archives are created to be used. These amateur creators are becoming working professionals themselves. It would be great for archivists to work alongside these creators to foster their knowledge and collaborate with them for the future. With born-digital records and social media, this partnership could be invaluable to preservation.

This article also mentions that “according to data from the Society of American Archivists, the most recent of which was published in 2006, about 3% of professional archivists in the US identify as Black” (Kaur, 2022). These numbers are extremely disproportionate and archivists themselves must contribute to make a change. One way archivists can do this is by curating and exhibiting collections that features Black history. The website of the Library of Congress features artwork from the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence located at the White House between June 2020 and January 2021. The artwork can now be forever viewed on this governmental agency website. This was also a community project since “members of the public worked together to maintain, protect, and then archive the thousands of signs and artworks” (Wikipedia Foundation).

I recently visited the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures which has a new exhibit entitled Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971. This exhibit “offers the public a chance to learn more about how Black performers and filmmakers have helped define cinema in the United States” (Academy Museum of Motion Pictures). This is one of the largest Black Cinema exhibits ever created and is another great example of how archivists can create collections that educate the broad public. In this case, a variety of visitors would include film professionals & enthusiasts, and tourists visiting Los Angeles. It was a moving exhibit to see with a variety of historic film clips, props, and photographs which showcase the overlooked Black community of the motion picture industry.

Amateurs use social media to preserve and share Black history while professional archivists curate physical exhibitions as well as publicly share their collections online. If they can work together to educate their followers, users, and communities, Black history can become more inclusive.

 References

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. (n.d.). Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971. Academy Museum. https://www.academymuseum.org/en/press-release/academy-museum-announces-details-of-regeneration-black-cinema

Black Film Archive. (n.d.). https://blackfilmarchive.com/  

Kaur, H. (2022, February 19). How black archives are highlighting overlooked parts of history and culture. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/19/us/black-archivists-history-culture-cec

Library of Congress. (n.d.). Black lives matter memorial fence. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=black%2Blives%2Bmatter%2Bmemorial%2Bfence&st=gallery

Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, August 22). Black lives matter memorial fence. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter_Memorial_Fence

Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971 Exhibit at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Costume Worn by Lena Horne in “Stormy Weather” (1943) at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Sidney Poitier Oscar at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Louis Armstrong’s Engraved Selmer B-Flat Trumpet at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Exploring an Ethical Dilemma

I watched an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver that focused on museums and the origins of their collections back in October 2022. One of the main takeaways was that many artifacts were looted and raided during wars and later sold to different institutions across the world. This is a large reason why some statues have missing pieces such as feet, hands, or other missing parts in their institutions. They were quickly stolen to be sold or separated for even greater profits. Other museums may have the missing pieces to a work of art, leaving these important historical works forever separated. Every museum wants to have an iconic piece of an historical work, but it seems having a completed work housed in one place would much better benefit visitors and researchers. Ever since I learned this, I have been thinking a lot about not only museums, but archives and the objects in their collections. This made me think of archives today and what would happen (or happens) if important papers surrounding a prominent figure were separated. An archivist strives to maintain the original order for their collections at all costs and any separation of materials would be a difficult dilemma to be in.

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) has a well-defined Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics. These ethics provide a solid framework but acknowledge that not all archivists have the same mindset. Archivists come from a variety of backgrounds with different skillets to contribute to the profession. Seven main characteristics make up SAA’s Code of Ethics. These include Professional Relationships, Judgment, Authenticity, Security & Protection, Access & Use, Privacy, and Trust (SAA). They do not contain specific instructions for situations that arise but can be consulted for their fundamental characteristics.

If I received a body of papers of a prominent individual that I knew were already housed in another archives, several questions would need to be asked. Who donated the papers, and where did they come from? I would want to know why they are being donated to my archives instead of the other one like the other materials. Were they unhappy with the way they are being handled, stored, accessed, or used? I would also try and find out why the papers were split up in the first place. These would all be essential questions for the donor and/or individual who created the documents.

I would then consult the Code of Ethics based on the answers I received. The ‘Professional Relationships’ code states that archivists should “cooperate and collaborate with other archivists in the profession…and be as respectful, honest, transparent, empathetic, and equitable as possible” (SAA). With this, I would contact my current director at the archives where I worked and ask them if I could get in touch with the institution who housed the rest of the collection. By working alongside the archivists at the other institution, perhaps an agreement could be made to ensure the entire collection remains together. Maintaining original order is one of the most important factors when assessing collections. It would be a strain, if not impossible, for researchers to have to visit two different institutions to piece together valuable research. Three options could be considered. The first could be donating the papers to the other archives so that they could all be housed in one place. A professional relationship could be formed with the potential to make a similar exchange in return in the future. This would only be a solution depending on the rules from the donor when receiving the papers. The second option could be to exchange high-quality reproductions of the papers located at each archive. This way, each archive could maintain a complete record of the affairs of the individual. If the collections from both archives were made available online, they could cross reference each other so the user would easily be able to locate a complete collection with metadata describing which content came from which archive. A third option could be to loan the papers to the other archive for a pre-determined period of time. Since the papers were from a prominent individual, the current research value could be higher now than in the future. People may be flocking to these particular records for current books or publications. Years later, when the research and access is much lower, they could be returned to the archive and another option could be considered.

The ‘Access & Use’ code states that archivists “promote open and equitable access to records in their care as much as possible” (SAA). If an agreement had been made with the other institution for exchange or loan, I would ensure that their access policy would align with our access policy had we taken over the documents. Paperwork could be created to ensure follow through. There could even be a policy in place which stated that we could gain access to the records for our own institutional research if this was ever necessary in the future. Along with access policies, I would ensure ‘Privacy’ codes were also in place that aligned with our current policies.

Perhaps the most important code to consult in this situation would be ‘Trust’. Trust maintains that “archivists should not take advantage of their privileged access to and control of records and collections” (SAA). It could destroy trust to take advantage of the situation and choose to simply do nothing. Even though it would be great to house these records for the benefit of the archives themselves, archives are created for its users. User trust could be lost if archives took advantage of this in a similar way where museums acquired separated historical objects in the past.

Although I described three different routes one could take in this situation, there are still many legal issues that could arise. The nature of the documents themselves and the integrity of the individual would also come into play. If any of the three options outlines were considered, both institutions would have to share the same legal terms when working together. These would include copyright, access, and usage rights.

In summary, if I received the remaining papers of a prominent individual whose records I knew were housed in another institution, I would create a list of immediate questions to ask the donor and/or individual. I would then consult the Director of my current organization for their advice and recommend talking to the other institution that houses the remaining papers. After consulting SAA’s Code of Ethics, I would then reach out to that institution and collaborate with them to create an agreement which would allow the papers to be accessible in one place. If collaboration between archives was not possible, I would be upfront to users that the collection was incomplete which could lead to inadequate research. I would then try and point them to the other archive that may have the missing papers so they could conduct more accurate research. Being honest and upfront will improve the relationship between archivists and their users.

References

Oliver, J. (2022, October 2). Museums: last week tonight with john oliver (hbo) [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJPLiT1kCSM

SAA core values statement and code of ethics. (2020, August 6). Society of American Archivists. https://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics