The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries are pleased to announce the launch of a brand new website platform and database for the Television News Archive. The new system includes improvements to search capabilities, browsing by date, automatic delivery of loans, single sign on for VU users and sponsoring institutions, and much more. We encourage visitors to explore the new site as a beta release to help us fine tune performance and identify any bugs. The site can be temporarily accessed via beta.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu
Improved Search
Visitors will notice several new filters and facets available in the advanced search, like contributors, locations, topics and transcript search. These new features are made possible through a series of projects underway at the TV News Archive:
- Transcripts: In partnership with the McGee Applied Research Center for Narrative Studies, the entire TVNA collection is transcribed through voice-to-text automated speech recognition. Transcripts offer users the ability to search every word spoken in a news broadcast. By default, basic and advanced search will include results from transcripts, but searches can also be limited to just titles, descriptions, or transcripts using the checkboxes in Advanced Search.
- Locations and Contributors: Identifying the people and places featured in news segments has always been a priority for the TV News Archive, however the data was embedded within the free text field: abstract summaries. Our new database extracts these two fields and applies a linked data approach with Wikidata as a controlled vocabulary. While still in development, future releases of the website will offer more opportunities to explore and interact these two key facets.
- IPTC Media Topics: In addition to locations and contributors, news segments will be classified using the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) Media Topics subject taxonomy. This subject headings data will make broad subject research, like national elections, natural disasters, or science and technology, easier and more versatile.
In addition to these new fields and datapoints, the VU Libraries rebuilt the TVNA database to better align with current metadata practices used by peer media libraries. For several years, the TV News Archive has engaged with the community supporting PBCore, a cataloging standard for audiovisual content lead by the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. The new TVNA database is fully PBCore compliant, allowing for future interoperability and exchanges of information through collaborative projects.
Borrowing Policies for Students and Faculty
The new platform will enforce lending limits on archival news media in a new way that aligns with modern library systems. Users can borrow a maximum 40 hours (2,400 minutes) of content per month. Borrowing quotas renew at the start of each month. This limit does not apply to public researchers, unaffiliated with a college or university that sponsors the TVNA. However public users must complete a payment process for individual items borrowed.
New Pricing for Public Research
Loan requests for public users will now be ready for immediate viewing and download after payment for the processing fees is completed. This automation enables us to reduce our processing fees:
- $20 for news and commercial segments.
- $30 for specials with a runtime less than 20 minutes.
- $60 for specials over 20 minutes and full evening news broadcasts.
For assistance with completing a loan request, visit our New Website Walkthrough. Please send us your feedback and comments on the new website platform and database, as we continue to improve access and discovery of the Vanderbilt Television News Archive.