IASA-BAAC 2026 Conference

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11:00am EEST

Wartime Recordings of Voskovec and Werich: Optical Digitisation of Damaged Lacquer Discs Using the INA-Saphir System: Technical Resilience and Preservation Refresh Strategies

Thursday October 22, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

The Sound Laboratory of the National Museum has recently expanded its preservation workflows for severely degraded historical sound recordings through the implementation of non-contact optical scanning technologies. Since 2023, the INA-Saphir system has been used to digitise lacquer discs that cannot be safely reproduced using conventional mechanical playback. This approach enables the recovery of audio content from cracked, delaminated, and fragmented carriers and represents a viable preservation strategy for vulnerable sound recordings from the World War II period.

This contribution presents a case study of wartime radio broadcasts by Voskovec and Werich, produced during their exile in the United States for transmission to occupied Czechoslovakia. The original lacquer discs, manufactured and used under wartime conditions, exhibit significant material degradation that limits their accessibility today.
Focusing on applied preservation practice, the paper outlines key stages of the optical digitisation workflow, including condition assessment, capture, signal reconstruction, and post-processing. It highlights practical decision-making in handling fragile media and demonstrates how material analysis informs the selection of appropriate digitisation strategies. The case study illustrates how optical scanning can function as a resilience-oriented approach for preserving obsolete and physically compromised audio carriers that are otherwise unplayable.

Speakers

Geoff Tyson

Sound Engineer, National Museum, Czech Republic

Geoff Tyson is an audio engineer at the National Museum in Prague. Since 2020, he has specialized in the restoration, preservation, and digitization of old historical sound carriers from the 19th and 20th century.

Filip Šír

Head of Digitization Department, National Museum, Czech Republic

Filip Šír is a specialist in the preservation of historical audio heritage in the Czech Republic. Since 2012, he has focused on national coordination, digitization, and long-term conservation of sound documents. He works at the National Museum as head of digitization department... Read More →

Thursday October 22, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Long Presentation, In Person

global Y
Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

12:00pm EEST

A Necessary Challenge: Critical Audio Edition of Hitler’s Speeches 1933-1945

Thursday October 22, 2026 12:00pm - 12:30pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Editing Adolf Hitler’s speeches is a necessary challenge. As key documents produced by perpetrators, they are essential for critically examining the Nazi era. Making these sources accessible requires careful ethical consideration. In a joint project, funded by the German Research Foundation, the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (Munich / Berlin), the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, the Marburg University, the Leibniz Institute for German Language (Mannheim) and the German Broadcasting Archive (Frankfurt am Main / Potsdam) will identify, analyse and edit the extensive amount of speeches that Hitler delivered between 1933 and 1945. 735 speeches will be made available as a text edition (digital / print), accompanied by introductions to the current state of knowledge and the historical context. The 346 speeches that have been preserved as audio documents will be made available to a restricted group of users in the form of a critically annotated digital audio edition that can be searched and analysed using advanced machine learning methods. This edition will enable scholars to answer specific questions that remained unresolved due to the limited accessibility of the sources in the past. At the same time, the edition aims at our present: analysing Hitler’s speeches enables comparisons to be drawn with the language used by contemporary extremists and populists. Next to providing an overview of the project as a whole, the presentation will be given from the perspective of the archive and will focus on the audio edition: We will reflect on the challenges of (a) compiling and documenting a collection that has been preserved in different archives across Europe as a result of World War II, (b) digitising audio sources that have been preserved on different carriers, in different formats and in various conditions, and (c) – our key aspect – digitally restoring a heterogeneous collection of audio files, which makes it difficult to adopt a consistent technical approach.

Speakers

Simon Frei

Audio Engineer, Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv / German Broadcasting Archive

Since 2024, Simon Frei has been responsible for the digitisation, digital processing, and restoration of audio recordings in the research project "Critial Edition of Hitler's Speeches 1933-1945". With 20 years of professional experience as a sound engineer specialising in the production... Read More →

Dr. Götz Lachwitz

Research Specialist / Project Manager, Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv / German Broadcasting Archive

Dr. Götz Lachwitz has been a research specialist at the German Broadcasting Archive (DRA) in Potsdam-Babelsberg since August 2020. Following an apprenticeship as an audio engineer, he went on to study Media Studies in Bonn. He then worked as an academic assistant at the University... Read More →

Thursday October 22, 2026 12:00pm - 12:30pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Short Presentation, In Person

global Y
Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

1:30pm EEST

Beyond Checksums: Conformance Checking as a Core Component of Authentic Digital Preservation

Thursday October 22, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Born-digital audiovisual collections increasingly enter archives with incomplete provenance information, heterogeneous production environments, and varying levels of technical quality. While checksum-based fixity methods reliably confirm bit-level stability after transfer, they do not reveal structural defects already present within files—defects that may affect authenticity, accessibility, and long-term preservation decisions.

This joint presentation brings together archival practice and tool development by the Austrian Mediathek and Jerome Martinez, developer of the MediaInfo project. From the institutional perspective, the Austrian Mediathek presents how systematic conformance checking was integrated into ingest workflows for born-digital audiovisual materials and how this reshaped internal assessment and decision-making processes. Based on the analysis of 4,771 incoming files, the archive identified internal inconsistencies such as truncated bitstreams, container irregularities, and mismatches between declared and actual data structures that remain invisible in traditional workflows.

Complementing this practice-based view, the MediaInfo developer introduces the principles behind the conformance checker, explaining how structural analysis at container and bitstream level makes such inconsistencies detectable and interpretable.

By combining operational archival experience with tool-level insight, the presentation demonstrates how conformance checking strengthens authenticity assessment, improves risk awareness at ingest, and supports informed, transparent preservation planning.

Conformance checking complements fixity by making structural integrity visible—turning stability into trust.

Speakers

Marion Jaks

Long term preservation, Österreichische Mediathek

Marion Jaks is a digital archivist at the Österreichische Mediathek (Austrian Mediathek) in Vienna, Austria. She holds a degree in History and completed professional library training at the Austrian National Library. Her work at the Mediathek spans both analogue and digital collections... Read More →

Jérôme Martinez

CEO, Affiliation MediaArea

Lead developer of #MediaInfo and technical consultant to a variety of projects within the fields of broadcast video, audiovisual archiving, and web video.

Thursday October 22, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Long Presentation, In Person

global Y
Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

2:30pm EEST

Challenges of Discography in the 21st Century

Thursday October 22, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Since 1936, a significant number of discographies have been compiled, which can serve as
secondary sources for further discographic research. But how do we know that the data in a
discography are reliable? What are the criteria for the reliability of discographies? This topic
has been a concern for some discographers since the 1970s. Tim Brooks’ 1996 proposal to
apply the reference system of scientific publications to discographies points to the
methodological issue that, while references were not needed for the first discographies,
following the principle of ’first to do it’, this is no longer acceptable for today’s discographers
especially when using earlier discographies as sources. Brooks’ call has provoked sharp
criticism from parts of the discographic community, arguing that the extensive referencing of
discographic data sets not only overloads the data but also increases printing costs
enormously.

For an online published discography, this problem can be solved in several ways. In addition,
it would now in principle be possible to compile a universal discography from the set of
national discographies, with practical display, search and access options. However, there
appear to be a number of obstacles to the creation of a global discographic database. Some of
the obstacles are financial and IT-related, while others are methodological, such as the issue
of standardisation or the fact that some national discographies have not yet been completed.
In my presentation, I will discuss these two of the current challenges of discography, the
reliability of discographies and the issues of a global discography, using literature and
international examples. The presentation is linked to my research on the history and
methodology of discography funded by the Bolyai János Research Fellowship (2022–2025).

Speakers

Ferenc János Szabó

Senior research fellow, Institute for Musicology, Budapest

pianist and musicologist, senior research fellow at theArchives for 20 th -21 st -Century Hungarian Music at theInstitute for Musicology ELTE RCH and acting director ofthe Library of the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy. Hisresearch focuses on the history of the recorded sound,discography... Read More →

Thursday October 22, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Short Presentation, In Person

Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

3:30pm EEST

Technological Resilience and Preservation Refresh Measures in Handling Obsolete Audio-Visual Collections "Silent Archives": The Case of Unisa Library Archives

Thursday October 22, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Audio-visual material kept by the Unisa Library is an important part of heritage and history of various cultures, recording oral traditions, traditional melodies, and events, which were recorded using non-textual media only. A significant portion of audio-visual archives have been rendered obsolete due to quick evolution of formats, degradation of physical medium, out-of-date methods of reproduction, and lack of means for maintenance.

In this article, we explore technical obstacles in handling and conserving audio-visual materials that became obsolete and outline measures aimed at preserving and revitalising such collections to restore their utility. Using case of the Unisa Library Archives, the study considers the state of deterioration, the problem of obsolescent file formats, and necessity of developing preservation refresh strategy involving digitisation and migration.

Specific measures outlined in this study include implementing sustainable processes of digitisation with acquisition of proper playback hardware, software, and related infrastructure, setting up check-summing routines and integrity controls, developing metadata system to guarantee provenance, and employing hybrid on-site and off-site storage facilities. It also includes seeking financial support from heritage sponsors, establishing cooperation to share resources, and developing an audio-visual collection preservation policy including regular refreshing cycles.

In addition, implementing measures of preservation refresh and digitisation will lead to increased technological resilience and will allow addressing the challenge of obsolescence and ensuring access in case of possible disruptions. This study gives practical examples for archivists who want to implement a successful preservation refresh strategy.

Speakers

Lufuno Kgamedi

Archivist, University of South Africa - Library

Ms. Lufuno Kgamedi, an Archivist with sixteen years of experience, began her career in 2009 at the National Archives of South Africa, where she developed her expertise and passion for preserving archival records. In 2013, she joined the University of South Africa (Unisa) Library (Archives... Read More →

Thursday October 22, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Short Presentation, In Person

Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

4:00pm EEST

Radio Haiti Archive: Toward a Community Politics of Repatriation

Thursday October 22, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

This presentation tracks dissertation work on how various groups view the repatriation and return of the Radio Haiti Archive, which the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University in North Carolina, USA, currently houses, and the role the Haitian diaspora plays in such efforts. It tracks the concepts emerging from the literature on archival repatriation, describes two interlocking bodies of theoretically informed scholarship: critical archival studies and anti-colonial archivy that serve as theoretical lenses to help frame the research and through which to examine archival repatriation and return, outlines the case study methodology pursued using specifically the methods of interviews and archival research, and offers findings.

Speakers

Sony Prosper

PhD Student, University of Michigan

Sony Prosper is a Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan School of Information in the United States of America. His research has concerned archival return and repatriation, how members and volunteers of community and grassroots archives conceptualize records, and how their conceptualizations... Read More →

Thursday October 22, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Long Presentation, In Person