17. 10. 2004

Ebart Documentation tops 800,000 articles

BELGRADE, October 17, 2004 (Danas) – Newspaper libraries are in a terrible condition, with archives falling into ruin because of inadequate maintenance and the damage caused by physical handling, the director of Ebart Consulting media documentation said today. Velimir Curgus Kazimir added that such archives should only be exhibits in museums. The Ebart Web site now presents every article printed in Serbian media from the beginning of 2003 to the present day. These can be searched by column, general references, genre, institutions and names, geographic references, media and date. Ebart’s pioneering mission to establish an electronic archive has been implemented by only a handful of people working over the past two years. But, according to Kazimir, Ebart makes progress each day. He cites the recent negotiation of free access to documentation on part of the National Library’s computer network. In the meantime, the documentation will be augmented by digitised interviews dating from 1990 to 2001. The Swedish Helsinki Committee is supporting the establishing of a network which will see access given to the forty member stations of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and Local Press in exchange for the provision of their own published material. Negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been undertaken in order to obtain access to the archive for citizens abroad through consulates and cultural centres. “This archive should be of public interest and the state should show more concern for it, because this is a matter of protecting the cultural heritage,” said Kazimir. The Ebart Consulting director notes that politicians in public office do not recognise the importance of the archive, although the people around them do. At the same time, all political parties use the documentation from time to time, at least during election campaigns. On the other hand, a large number of companies, international organisations and embassies make use of the archive. At the moment, access is far too expensive for individuals. Kazimir says he hopes the price will become more reasonable as the number of users increases. This could see the subscription fee drop to a hundred euros a month next year. This, he says, may seem expensive, but it is seventy euros less than the cost of buying all the newspapers available.