The National Archives of Fiji partnered with DAMsmart to preserve Fiji's cultural heritage assets that were at risk of being lost. DAMsmart assessed and conserved over 2,000 hours of historical footage and 200,000 photographs and negatives that were in an advanced state of decay. Through this partnership, the collections were restored, digitized and delivered to the National Archives of Fiji in a sustainable digital archive system. The project helped rescue Fiji's audiovisual heritage and improved the National Archives' staffing and budget. It also allowed the archives to better connect with the Fijian community. The document demonstrates how partnerships can achieve successful outcomes for developing archives.

1. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Opeta Alefaio (National Archives of Fiji)
&
Andrew Martin (DAMsmart)
Partnerships & Collaboration:
A Powerful Tool For Developing
Archives

2. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Following is a presentation given at the PARBICA16 conference in Auckland in
September 2015.
The joint presentation was framed around a project case study which saw the National
Archives of Fiji partner with DAMsmart to conserve, digitise and preserve the rich
cultural heritage that was trapped on physical legacy audiovisual carriers.
The case study demonstrates successful and lasting outcomes can be achieved through
partnership and collaboration.

3. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Pacific Archive Challenges
Seriously under resourced (some national archives have only 1-2 dedicated
personnel)
Low societal awareness of RK
No training opportunities locally
Isolated (distance and low connectivity)
Rapid and unplanned deployment of technology

4. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Professional associations and collegial support are a vital life line
Impact of Partnerships – Fiji
SEAPAVAA, enabled Fiji to save its Audio Visual heritage (2000hrs)
PARBICA & ICA
Increase staffing by 50%
Increase budget by 118%
New allocation for awareness
Increased allocation for archives materials
UNESCO MOW, enabled NAF to connect with our community in a manner not before seen
Partnerships

5. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
200,000 photographs and negs
2000 hours of historical footage
Dumped
Unorganised
Advanced State of Decay
At Risk!!!

6. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
SEAPAVAA - Consulted on reputable AV preservation/digitisation firms
2011 DAMsmart Ltd carried out assessment of Fiji’s AV holdings
2012 submissions through standard government budget process
Government tender awarded to DAMsmart Ltd
Project successfully executed Dec 2013
Restoration & Digitisation

7. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
The National Archives of
Fiji partnered with
DAMsmart to preserve
the country’s cultural
heritage.

8. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Together the collection was brought under control.

9. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
The collection contained 22,000 individual titles across
U-matic Videotape – 606 news edit masters and 2100 camera tapes
Betacam SP Videotape – 1600 news edit masters and 1700 camera tapes
16mm Film – 350 cans of prints and negatives of mixed durations
All suffered varying degrees of degradation as shown in the following slides

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Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration

11. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Examples of advanced Vinegar Syndrome was recorded during the assessment in Fiji.

12. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
A lot of the film and video was in very poor condition. As a part of the preparation process,
we assessed each title from head to tail as there were many duplicate titles. We chose the
title in the best condition and concentrated our conservation practices on the best title.

13. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Some carriers had such severe physical degradation that it took significant and intensive
intervention and repair work to recover partial information from the tape.

14. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
This is an example of a carrier with severe mould before DAMsmart began the cleaning process.

15. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
This is the same carrier as the previous slide after the DAMsmart conservation process.

16. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
The project out comes included -
Master High Resolution: IMX 50 Mbps MXF
Online Video Resolution: H.264 5 Mbps QuickTime
Total Data Size: 70 TB
LTO 5 LTFS formatted
Duplicated 2nd copy off site

17. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
The digital media was delivered to the National Archives of Fiji in a preconfigured Digital
Archive System.
5 TB Online
Video
2 x LTO5 Drive
24 Slot LTO Library
UPS
CatDV/ MYSQL Server
High Resolution
Video Storage
2 TB
Cisco Switch

18. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
To see more on the project, see the documentary produced by the Archive.

19. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
International register
2011 - Indian Indentured Records (Fiji, Guyana, Surinam, Trinidad & Tobago)
Regional register
2011 - Indian Indentured Records
2014 - Polynesian Immigrants Records
Fiji Memory of the World Programme

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Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
“Without the presence of National Archives most of the descendants will still rely on the
verbal history relayed to them through stories. They are now confident that what they
know is something that was recorded during that time then and there and are reliable
information. Many of them were so moved they had tears in their eyes when they returned
from your tent.”
Org. Committee Chair - Paterasio Nunu
150th Commemoration of Pacific Indentured Labourers

21. www.DAMsmart.com.au
Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Rescue our Audio Visual Heritage
Improve staffing (after 30 years)
Improved budgetary allocation
Connect with our people
Educational DVD box set
Sacred Tribal Records
The Benefits of Partnerships &
Collaboration

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Refreshing the ArchivePartnerships & Collaboration
Thank you!!!