- Stavanger Aftenblad, 17 juni 2006

The Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound (NIRS) joined a big Belgian company in establishing a new company in Bjergsted Terrasse in Stavanger. The aim is to digitize and preserve sound collections for posterity.

Eldri Espedal Storhaug | text              Jacqueline von Arb | translation                   Knut S. Vindfallet | foto

Bjergsted: It is an unusual story that a small cultural foundation based on Arne Dørumsgaard’s sound collection started a commercial company in a joint venture with Memnon Audio Services SA, a big international company.

      - The main motivation is to digitize and preserve both the cultural heritage at NIRS, as well as provide services to other customers, says Sigurd Vik, Chairman of both boards at NIRS’ and at the new company MemNor AS. Jacqueline von Arb, Director at NIRS will also lead the new company half time. The joint venture is the first of its kind in the ALM [Archive Library and Museum] sector, as a public private partnership.

    Both give a thorough explanation of why it is so important to digitize and preserve old sound recordings:

The sound heritage disappears

    - In 20 years, much of the Norwegian sound heritage may have disappeared. The sound carriers disintegrate. Playback machines turn obsolete and spare parts are not to be found anymore. Many countries work  at protecting their collections by digitization and research. Unesco has declared 27 October as Audiovisual Archive Day.

    Jacqueline von Arb has already been contacted by the National Archives in Oslo, the Folk Music Archive in Stockholm, the Sibelius Museum in Finland and Danish Radio, who are  all interested in the services

that the new company offers. Also libraries, private companies and the public can ask for digitization and archiving. Historian Jan B Bøe at the University of Stavanger, comments: it is obvious that it is important to preserve sound recordings from a historic perspective. Everyone needs the past.

     Michel Merten, Director of Memnon Audio Archiving Services SA explains the new company:

There is commitment in Stavanger

      - We wish to expand and we are always looking for good partners. We met Jacqueline von Arb as the Vice President of International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives and understood that NIRS has competency in Stavanger, where there is a commitment towards culture and business, and where the city has status as culture capital in 2008.

     The new company will make sure that old sound recordings are stored as sound files. One can then produce CD’s from them.

     The new company is financed with a share capital of kr 1,5 million. NIRS’s share is 750.000 whereof 500.000 kroner are an earlier municipal allocation for digital equipment and 250.000 kroner from the Borghammer fund. The rest of the capital comes from the Belgian company: they own 49 percent, while NIRS has 51%. 

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Picture text (see the picture in the 16. june 2006 e-version of the article in Aftenbladet.no):   Historic signing

From the left, Sigurd Vik, Chairman of the Board at MemNor AS, Michel Merten, Director of Memnon Audio Archiving Services SA, Walter Beyen, Chairman of the Board [sic] in the same company and Jacqueline von Arb, General Manager of MemNor and NIRS.