Beyond Theory – Interview with Jole Stimbirytė by Viktorija Gardoviča

Lithuanian Central State Archive the Film Department has gone through huge digital transformation through last few decades, helping with digitisation and preservation of Lithuania’s film heritage. How has the digital transformation impacted the preservation practices at the Lithuanian Central State Archive, particularly in the Film Department?

Digitization of audiovisual and photographic heritage, storage of digital copies and access to digitised material is one of the priority areas of activity of Lithuanian Central State Archives. Currently, this is the only way to preserve valuable historical content and provide an opportunity to get to know it to everyone interested in. Every year, the archive’s audiovisual and photographic heritage collections grow. We get a lot of new and interesting material, which must be digitised as soon as possible due to the poor physical condition of analogue carriers. Although we try to preserve the originals for as long as possible, in recent years we have been paying more attention to digital storage. Since we digitise at the highest possible resolution, digital copies (especially films) take up a lot of digital storage space. We preserve three copies of each digitised film, and digital storage requires constant maintenance, updating and development.

Historical document authenticity and integrity is important to every person working in archival scene because if we change it too much while making digital copy, we create a whole new document. Can you discuss the challenges of maintaining the authenticity and integrity of digital copies compared to their original analog versions?

In our archive, films, photographs, and audio recordings are digitised at the highest possible resolution, aiming to make the primary digitised material as close to the original as possible. It is precisely this original digitised and unrestored material that is stored in digital repositories. For example, when it comes to films, they are digitised frame by frame in 2K or 4K resolution. Later, when viewing the sequence of frames, the image is practically identical to the image on the original tape. It is this raw material obtained from the scanner that we preserve. The same applies to the sound of films – the uncorrected sound recorded directly from the tape in wav format is stored. For the publication of films on our portal E-kinas, mp4 files are produced, but we also try not to make major corrections. We try to imagine how the film might have looked at the time it was created and shown on the screen, and to remove only those defects that arose due to the aging of the analog tape (e.g., restore the original colours, remove large scratches, etc.). We really maintain the authenticity and integrity compared to the analog version. Of course, if the users want, we can restore the film to their needs. But the main mission of the archive is to preserve as much authenticity and originality as possible.

While working with historical documents, archivists face ethical dilemmas like need to protect personal and sensitive information that can be found in documents and other. In your experience, what are the most significant ethical dilemmas faced by archivists in the Baltic region during the digitisation process?

I think, the ethical dilemmas are more related to the publication of digitised documents. The mission of the archive is to preserve the content contained in the documents, so they are digitised and later stored in digital repositories. More of that personal and sensitive information is in photographs. As for films, they are still more or less a public thing, to be shown at some point. Of course, there are amateur films or personal/family films that may contain more of the aforementioned information. In such cases, we simply do not publish such digitized films. Since we have recently received a lot of amateur films in the archive, and people who have found their family films also apply, we sometimes face the dilemma of what is really worth preserving and what is too personal. In such cases, we discuss and select for preservation only those films that we will be able to freely publish, because their content is interesting and does not contain overly sensitive or personal information. We also always ask people whether and what we can publish. However, all this is not directly related to digitisation. We digitise for preservation and also make digital copies for transmitters.

Our main goal is to digitise as many documents as possible because we don’t know how long they will be in decent shape to be digitised. It is constant fight with a time, but we cannot ignore ethic when choosing the documents that need to be digitised. So, what ethical considerations do you prioritize when digitising audiovisual documents, and how do they influence your decision-making process?

When it comes to films, we currently have no other way to find out what content is recorded on the tapes than by digitising them. Therefore, all newly received films are first digitised. Certain priorities are followed when digitising films already stored in the archive. The main one is that we digitise those films that will be published on the E-kinas portal. This means that we have already, taken into account, the content of the films, and their publication should not cause ethical problems. When it comes to photographs or audio recordings, we also digitise them first, only later deciding whether to publish them or not. On the other hand, even after publishing documents, we can always not publish them again if, due to some ethical or other considerations, users are dissatisfied or criticize us. However, digitisation is always mandatory in order to preserve them, in my opinion. And it has nothing to do with ethics.

As mentioned before, archivists must be conscious of the information in the documents that are getting digitised to protect person whose sensitive information can be exposed in these documents. How do you address the ethical implications of making archival materials accessible to the public, especially those containing sensitive or personal information?

We always ask people who transmit audiovisual documents whether we can publish them. All issues related to the use and publication of documents are discussed in contracts. So far, we have not encountered ethical problems with the publication of audiovisual documents. We try not to publish very personal or sensitive content. If one day ethical problems arise and someone contacts us, we simply will not publish such content.

Copyright laws are one of the dilemmas the archivist face because the historical documents are important for educating the newer generation but at the same time it is authors intellectual property. Another concern that archivist face while publishing the digitised documents on digital archives are that people steal documents from them and publish freely. How do you balance the need for public access to digital archives with the protection of intellectual property rights and privacy concerns?

On our E-kinas website, we publish only those audiovisual documents that fall into the Public Domain area, or the copyrights have been transferred to the archive or the agreements with the authors state that they agree to publication on the E-kinas website. In any case, descriptions of all documents are published. In all other cases, users have the opportunity to write a letter directly to the copyright holders on the portal for permission to use the documents. The E-kinas website is on the State Cloud Services platform; therefore, it is sufficiently protected from piracy. In addition, the portal contains very low-resolution copies of films and audio recordings, so I do not think that anyone would have any commercial benefit from this. And copies of the published photographs can be freely downloaded from the portal.

Technology is constantly evolving, and it seems will not stop in foreseeable future. Archives as place that must preserve documents that are important for country, need to find a way to accommodate these changes and constantly keep progressing with them, so nothing gets lost. What role do emerging technologies, such as AI and machine learning, play in the future of digital archiving, and what ethical challenges do they present?

In my opinion, AI could be especially useful in the everyday life of archives. First, for heritage analysis, recognizing objects, faces, places, which would allow enriching metadata and expanding search capabilities for users. Second, for automatic language translation into text, including into other languages, and subtitling. In the archive, we already use an audio-to-text transcription program developed by a Lithuanian company. This significantly facilitates and speeds up the creation of metadata. Of course, it is always important for the archivist himself to constantly check the work of AI so that there are no errors or distortions. However, AI solutions are really particularly useful for the initial processing of archival material. And ethical challenges, I think, will be more visible in the future, when AI solutions become everyday life in archives. I do not really dare to predict anything yet, only that neutral archival material without sensitive content and copyright restrictions should be selected for AI training.

You have background in sociology, so you view things differently than other archivists who have background in history. How has this background influenced your approach to archival work and the ethical considerations involved in digitisation?

To be honest, I graduated from sociology a long time ago, when digitisation was not yet a widespread archival practice. Therefore, I did not have the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge in practice, and over time, so much was forgotten. Moreover, in my opinion, sociology is not very related to archival science. Perhaps, the knowledge of sociology could be applied to studying audiovisual heritage. However, I would leave this work to scientists. I consider myself an audiovisual archivist whose mission is to preserve heritage and make it accessible to users.

You have been a part of many national and international projects that promote accessibility, education, and international cooperation. As well these projects address the ethical challenges involved in ensuring privacy, cultural sensitivity, and the protection of intellectual property during digitisation. Can you share insights from your involvement in national and international projects (MIDAS, EFG, EUScreenXL, E-kinas) regarding the ethical implications of digital transformation?

By participating in national and international projects, the archive wanted to combine the preservation of heritage through digitisation and ensuring access to heritage for users. As I have already mentioned, we publish only those documents that we can publish due to the absence of copyright restrictions, and those that do not contain very personal or sensitive content. We have learned a lot from international projects about the principles of metadata creation and how to present audiovisual content attractively to users.

Last but not least, Baltic region countries have been working together to reflect a shared commitment to preserving the rich history and culture of the Baltic region through modern digital practices, through different projects like The Baltic Audiovisual Archiving Cooperation (BAAC), Digital Preservation of Cultural Heritage (EURNET) and others. How do you envision the future of audiovisual archives in the Baltic region in the context of ongoing digital transformation and ethical challenges?

In my opinion, the digital transformation in the Baltic audiovisual archives has already gained momentum, as increasingly more interesting content is being made public and used for various purposes. And, of course, the development of AI solutions is particularly important – in this area I would expect close cooperation between the Baltic audiovisual archives. By the way, in November 2025, a conference of the Baltic Audiovisual Archives Council (BAAC) on AI and audiovisual heritage in memory institutions is being organized in Vilnius. I hope there will be really interesting presentations, including on ethical challenges.

Jolė Stimbirytė studied Sociology at the Vilnius University and received her master’s degree in 1999. From 1995 till 1999 she worked as an Archivist of Sound and Video Documents Department at the Lithuanian Archive of Image and Sound (later – Lithuanian Central State Archive). From 1999 till February 2023, she was the institution’s Head of the Audiovisual Documents Preservation Department. Since February 2023 she has been the Head of the Film Department. She was also responsible for management of different national and international projects (MIDAS, EFG, EUScreenXL, E-kinas, etc.). Jolė Stimbirytė is a Chair of Lithuanian Archivists Association as well as a Board member of Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council and a member of Cinema Culture Association.