Fira Mediterrània hands over audio-visual material to the Cal Gallifa Library in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada

The Foundation and the Library sign an agreement making the archive available to the general public

Fira Mediterrània of Manresa Foundation and the Cal Gallifa Library in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada have signed an agreement handing over Fira Mediterrània of Manresa documentary archive material. Specifically, Fira Mediterrània has given the Sant Joan facility a series of audio-visual materials received as part of artistic proposals submitted in 1998 and from 2001 through to 2010, which was still being stored in the Manresa marketplace offices. The material is subject to a gratuitous loan agreement, meaning that the archive remains the property of Fira, but is being handed over to enable it to be viewed by the wider community. Fira Mediterrània has taken this step in line with its intention to make the material fully accessible to anyone who expresses an interest in it. The Sant Joan library recognises the historic and documentary value of the archive and has accepted responsibility for managing its conservation and dissemination from now on, in keeping with bibliographic criteria.

As custodian of the Fira documentary archive, the Cal Gallifa Library will take charge of maintaining the documentary archive, ensuring its safekeeping and conservation and preserving it for the future. The organisation will also be producing descriptive material enabling the archive to be consulted and disseminated, a copy of which will be provided to the Foundation. If the Library is unable to take charge of parts of the archive because of their particular nature, it may engage the help of other local services and/or non-profit organisations. The Library will have permission to publish digital images for cultural purposes on the internet, but if a Library user wants to copy part of the documentation, they will need to obtain permission in writing beforehand from Fira Mediterrània of Manresa Foundation. In both these cases, possible copyright and intellectual property rights held by third parties will have to be respected.

Antecedents

This is not the first time that the Foundation has signed up to an agreement of this kind. In 2011, it signed a collaboration agreement with the Arxiu Comarcal del Bages (Bages regional archive) for handing over administrative documentation, also as a gratuitous loan. The audio-visual material, a completely different type of archive, had been left pending up to now.

The Sant Joan de Vilatorrada Library was opened on 23 June 1972, and in 2003 it moved to the first floor of the old Cal Gallifa textile factory building. The Library is owned by Sant Joan de Vilatorrada Town Council, which runs it under an agreement with Barcelona Provincial Council, and it also is a member of the Municipal Libraries Network. The documentary archives held by Cal Gallifa Library are constantly being updated; anyone can look at them and most documents can be taken out on loan.

Fira Mediterrània of Manresa Foundation is responsible for organising the annual Fira Mediterrània, now in its 16th year and due to take place from 7 to 10 November 2013.