Moving Image Collections: A Window to the World's Moving Images
About Us
Who Can Use MIC?
Access to moving images involves two different perspectives: that of the user who wishes to find and use moving images in a collection, and that of the archives that must balance the responsibility for the physical care of the collection with making the collection accessible to the public. The MIC Web site facilitates access to and within the archival community by putting in one place the information needed to find archives and what they have in their collections.
Individual Users wanting to find and use moving images within a collection, or learn more about moving images and moving image preservation, can access MIC through either of two portals—customized information spaces—designed to support these users:
Archives & Archivists can access information through a portal which facilitates information sharing, collaboration and research among moving image archive professionals. The starting point for archivists is the
Learn more about MIC portals.
What is MIC?
- MIC documents moving image collections around the world through a catalog of titles and directory of repositories, providing a window to the world’s moving image collections for discovery, access and preservation
- MIC provides a technology base and informational resources to support research, collaboration, preservation, and education for archivists, exhibitors, educators, and the general public
- MIC is a portal for integrating moving images into 21st Century education
- MIC is a key access program of the Library of Congress’ National Audio Visual Conservation Center.
MIC integrates information about individual moving images with information about the organizations that own them.
MIC Components
- The MIC Union Catalog brings together in one place all the catalog records of participating archives , enabling users to search for moving images across collections, nationwide. Users can search for a moving image, learn how to obtain access to that moving image from the owning organization, and contact the organization for further information and assistance. Archivists making preservation decisions can use the Union Catalog as a tool to determine if that material has already been preserved elsewhere, or where the best preservation elements are held.
- The MIC Archive Directory provides information about specific archives – where they are located, what they have in their collections, services they provide, and how to contact them.
- MIC provides information and links to resources to help users understand the factors and circumstances that affect access to moving images in archives such as preservation, copyright issues, and donor agreements.
- MIC is a resource for people who would like to donate materials to an archive, with information on who to contact, procedures for donating, and donors’ rights.
- MIC is a center for professional development, connecting archivists with other archivists and associated professionals in order to provide opportunities for education, training, and conferences. MIC also provides a Web interface, cataloging tools, and support for archives lacking such resources. MIC’s Cataloging Utility, a Phase 2 development (beginning 2005), is a front-end input form to enable any participating archive to create records in standardized cataloging formats.
- MIC’s portal structure customizes information for particular constituencies. Learn more about MIC portals.
MIC Mission Statement
The MIC mission is to immerse moving images into the education mainstream, recognizing that what society uses, it values, and what it values, it preserves.
MIC Goals
The goal of the Moving Image Collections portal is to provide a window to the world's moving images for educators, researchers, exhibitors, and the general public that also allows archivists to collaborate in describing and maintaining these unique resources and thus avoid costly duplication of effort and further loss of our cultural heritage.
Moving images are unique in the use of multiple information streams (audio, visual and textual) to provide a compelling and immersive educational experience. Yet, moving images have remained isolated from the mainstream as an information resource, rarely cited in research papers, for example, or consulted as primary reference sources. Therefore another important goal of the MIC is to bring a very flexible but standardized metadata architecture to these diverse resources to integrate moving images into the information mainstream with the understanding that society values most highly what it understands and uses.
MIC History
The history of MIC began in 1994 with publication by the Library of Congress, in consultation with the Library’s National Film Preservation Board, of the national film preservation plan … [MORE]
Many projects and organizations led up to MIC.
Timeline of milestones that paved the way
More Information about MIC
Who is MIC?
MIC is a collaboration of organizations and individuals in moving image archives, information technology, and digital education. Participants are committed to the preservation and use of moving images to support people and societies around the world.
MIC is sponsored by the
Library of Congress
and the
Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), and funded in large part by the
National Science Foundation (NSF) through the first development phase (2002-2005). MIC is part of the
National Science Digital Library
The Library of Congress will serve as the permanent host site for MIC, providing infrastructure and management staffing to support MIC's long-term maintenance and ongoing development. AMIA, in accordance with its organizational mission, is responsible for developing MIC's educational content.
AMIA committees, interest groups, task forces, and other voluntary participants develop the site's informational resources through the working groups of the MIC Education and Outreach Committee.
MIC is governed by a Steering Committee and two standing committees: the Education and Outreach Committee and the Technical Committee.
MIC’s technical developers are funded by the NSF grant through the first development phase and include
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey,
Georgia Institute of Technology, and the
University of Washington. Thirteen alpha sites contribute records to the MIC Union Catalog and are actively involved in the testing, evaluation, and revision of all initial MIC functionalities. Also serving in an advisory capacity are the Science Educators Advisory Board and the
MIC Evaluation Teamat the Rutgers
Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Studies
Coordinating all MIC activities is Jane D. Johnson, MIC Project Manager at the Library of Congress.