Indexing multimedia collections and user access An analysis of the indexing systems in place at the BBC Archive and the British Film Institute National Archive

Indexing and classifying multimedia material is a complex process, made more difficult by inconsistencies in the indexing procedures. The lack of standards for indexing and classifying multimedia materials leads to inadequacies which not only affect how the material is organised, but also how it is accessed by users. Literature on the topic of indexing multimedia content addresses these issues, but fails to acknowledge how individual institutions and organisations organise their unique collections. This research examines two British media archives, the BBC Archive and the British Film Institute (BFI) National Archive and how they classify and index their massive collections. The research presented here has two objectives: to identify the indexing systems in place at the two archives and to examine how the systems affect user accessibility. As mentioned previously, there is sufficient literature surrounding the topic of indexing and classifying multimedia collections, but little has been written about how individual institutions, such as the BBC Archive and the BFI National Archive, index their multimedia collections. This research identifies specific features of each system, addressing the difficulties and how the indexing procedures are both influenced by and affect user accessibility. A flexible design strategy was implemented to carry out the research as all of the data collected was of a qualitative nature and also obtained from a small group of participants. In order to provide a context for the research and guide the researcher s understanding of indexing procedures, an in-depth literature review was implemented prior to the collection of research data. The literature review was also an integral part of formulating interview questions. It was determined that conducting interviews with representatives of each institution would be the most efficient way of obtaining information about the indexing systems as information about the systems is not publicly available or widely discussed in the literature. By conducting interviews with knowledgeable representatives of the BBC Archive and the BFI National Archive, the data obtained provided in-depth and detailed information about the indexing systems and how those systems affect user accessibility. The research process was an overall success, with great detail about the indexing systems at the BBC Archive and the BFI National Archive obtained and analysed. Both institutions have implemented standard indexing and classification procedures, but have made extensive deviations and variations to those standards in order to meet the specific needs of each archive. Additionally, the indexing process at each institution is heavily influenced by the needs of the users. Both the archives have made drastic changes to the way material is indexed and classified due to changes in user groups. Furthermore, each institution is constantly working towards improving user access by adopting new software for indexing the collections and making more content available digitally.