The State of the Global Film Archiving Community in 2016
A Report on the 2017 FIAF Statistical Survey
Compiled for FIAF by Rachael Stoeltje
You can consult and download it HERE.
In early 2017, FIAF carried out one of its regular online surveys to gather statistical information from its affiliates about the holdings, practices, and activities of the global FIAF community during the year 2016. This report provides a brief analysis of some of the key data collected and serves as a snapshot of the film archiving field in 2016, as reported by 130 FIAF affiliates in 2017. We are fully aware that this report is reaching you over three years after the survey was conducted. This is due to a number of factors beyond our control. We thought that it was nevertheless important to publish our conclusions before launching a new statistical survey in early 2021. We hope you find it useful.
Since the mid-1980s, the Federation has periodically conducted surveys and questionnaires with an objective to collect statistical data about its affiliated archives, their collections, and key activities. These numbers have allowed us to capture, at regular intervals, essential information about the size, scope, and geographical repartition of FIAF affiliates’ film and non-film holdings, and key figures about their work to preserve films and make them accessible. Previous FIAF statistical reports can be found HERE.
Ideally, we would have liked to compare the findings of the 2017 survey with those of the previous ones. However, a proper comparative analysis proved almost impossible for several reasons. First, the questions asked varied significantly from one survey to the next. Secondly, not all FIAF affiliates took part in all the surveys. The pool of responding affiliates has therefore been different for each survey, thus making it very difficult to make accurate comparisons. Issues such as these emphasize the need for consistency in the information that these surveys ask for, and every effort must be made to convince the largest number of affiliates to respond to the survey in the future, in order to provide the most complete global picture of the film archiving network.
Rachael Stoeltje
December 2020
