WITH SINCERE THANKS TO
ITMA would like to also like to thank the following individuals and organisations for their generous help in providing recordings, images, information, tune and song identification and permission to use various media.
Curation, design, content & technical management of the Furls of Music Digital Exhibition by ITMA Staff
With thanks to Aoife Kelly, graphic design, Furls of Music
With the widespread transition to digital formats, large portions of ITMA's sound and video collections have become endangered and at high risk of obsolescence and degradation. For carriers such as Digital Audio Tapes and Digital Video Tapes we lack the machines to play them on site, and the familiar CD may soon follow suit. As an organisation with the long-term preservation of Ireland’s traditional sound heritage at the core of its mission, ITMA recognises the need to adapt and re-strategise in order to build a preservation plan for the digital age.
The 2019 Digital Audio/visual Preservation (DAP) Project was made possible with generous funding from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht as part of the Department’s ‘national digitisation investment programme’. This project involved the digitisation of over 2,500 sound and video carriers, resulting in the generation of more than 24,000 audio and video files. The digitisation of the Michael McNamara Sound Collection of reel-to-reel tapes and sound cassettes was made possible through this funding grant. These 'new' master digital files have been ingested into a newly established digital preservation system, from where they can be actively managed, and access copies made available through a new online platform. The online platform is now currently in development.
Producing high-quality digital surrogates or user copies for ITMA’s vibrant multimedia collections, at the scale made possible by the DAP Project, means that it is possible to do much more with collections and further engage with audiences and potential archive users. Online exhibitions like the Furls of Music and the recently launched Dusty Bluebells are a testimony to this digital strategy.
In today’s world the preservation of traditional music is not possible without ongoing digital preservation and investment in a digital preservation strategy. The DAP Project is the first phase of ITMA’s new strategy for preservation and access, and we feel confident that ITMA users will see the fruits of our investment for many years to come.
For more information on the DAP Project please see DAP blogs:
Preserving Ireland’s Traditional Sound Heritage
An update on DAP, ITMA’s latest digital preservation project
The primary goal of digitisation in ITMA is to preserve materials and, where possible, make them accessible to the public. Sound recordings, texts, and still and moving images are all candidates for digitisation, with more vulnerable media given priority. Digitisation is carried out in-house and using approved service providers.
At ITMA, we adhere to international standards and best practice set by the international archiving community in creating and describing digital objects.
Of special note: the sound recordings in the Michael McNamara Sound Collection are being managed as part of a new digital preservation and access strategy developed with funding from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. For more information on the DAP Project please read our blogs 'Preserving Ireland’s Traditional Sound Heritage' 'An update on DAP, ITMA’s latest digital preservation project.'
Listed below are the current preferred digital preservation and access file format standards for multimedia materials in ITMA
Preservation: BWF WAV -- Sample Rate: 96kHz -- Bit Depth: 24 bit
User Access: MP3
Preservation: TIFF and/or PDF/A 300 DPI
User Access: JPEG 300 DPI and/or PDF/A
Preservation: TIFF 300 DPI
User Access: JPEG 300 DPI
Irish Traditional Music Archive /
Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann
73 Merrion Square
Dublin 2
Ireland
D02 WK75
T +353 (0)1 661 9699
