Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision was established in 1997 as the result of a merger between three large audiovisual archives and the Broadcast Museum. Substantial collections of radio and television programmes, documentaries, commercials, amateur films, photographs and music are all to be found at this institute. The (total) archival holdings include materials dating from the earliest days of cinema right up to current news broadcasts. Estimations of the size of the archive range from 800.000 to almost one million hours worth of viewing and listening. The major collection currently held is that of the (Dutch) public broadcasters, the magnitude of which increases daily.

Media landscape
The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision is a private foundation and has almost 200 employees. Based in Hilversum, the heart of the Dutch media landscape, its primary function is to service the Dutch public and commercial broadcasters. Together with them, we aim to shape the future of producing programmes (on TV, internet and radio) in the digital age. However, the actual user base of this institute’s (rich) archival holdings is much broader, including all levels of researchers, documentary programme makers, and the visiting public at the integral (state of the art) museum. These various user groups all have their own specific requirements regarding audiovisual programme content, and in order to meet these the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision provides a wide, efficient and professional, range of services.

Digital streaming of content
The Dutch government recently funded projects which allowed the Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision to employ the very latest techniques to vastly improve the accessibility of its holdings. Streaming of programme content into the classrooms of higher education is a prime example, with plans for larger scale operations involving universities. For these projects the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision not only collaborated with universities, but also the Surf organisation and the Internet2 consortium. Aside from such examples in the field of education, there are also ongoing projects to digitize and distribute content to a greater audience on internet.

Internationally active membership
The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision is an active member of international bodies such as the International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT-IFTA) and the European Broadcast Union (EBU). In this function it provides vital input for several European-funded projects including: collaboration on developing metadata standards, the creation of universally accessible digital libraries, effectively dealing with evolving search and retrieval issues and solutions for long term preservation of audiovisual programme content and materials.