Processing oral history interviews in the new cataloguing system of the Národní filmový archiv, Prague

Purpose – One of the activities of the Národní filmový archiv, Prague is the acquisition of, long-term preservation of, and providing access to oral history interviews for researchers. The aim of this article was to conceptualise this type of document throughout its entire life cycle. The conceptualization was then utilised to create a descriptive model for oral history recordings. This model serves as the foundation for a new cataloguing system for oral history.

Design / methodology / approach – The cataloguing system of oral history emerged through refining the archive's existing descriptive practices. This process involved analysing international standards, assigning existing information to specific levels of description, and formalising them into metadata elements. The primary method involved conceptual analysis of the interview recording as a specific type of document, considering it not only as an archival item (record of an event) but also as a work in the sense of a bibliographic description entity.

Results – The main outcome is the creation of a conceptual model for describing a specific type of audio work and of related metadata specifications designed for the detailed cataloguing of oral history interviews. The model and specification facilitate the linkage of interviews with related entities and serve as the foundation for a new cataloguing system. The second outcome is an accompanying publicly available online database that enables more detailed searches, particularly through subject headings. This user-friendly interface is much more accommodating than archival aids presented solely in the form of lists contained in static documents.

Originality / value – The article presents insights into the process of creating a metadata specification that is unique in its level of detail and complexity within both Czech and international contexts. The study builds upon a previously published text addressing the development of field-specific subject headings for describing the content of oral history interviews. In this article, subject headings are discussed in terms of their practical application in the new cataloguing system for oral history. Metadata specification and cataloguing rules can be inspirational not only for narrowly focused collections of oral history interviews but also, conceptually, for other collections with similar content.