International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts

Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle

Presentation of the Netherlands-Flemish Theatre Data Bank

Gaby Wijers (Acting Head of the Nthl Collection)

Documentation des Arts du Spectacle dans une Société en Mutation / Documentation of Performing Arts in a Changing Society

19ème Congrès International, Lisbonne 7-11 septembre 1991 / 19th International Congress, Lisbon 7-11 September 1992
Ed.: José Carlos Alvarez. Lisboa : 1994, p. 53-56

It is a pleasure for me to be able to present the new Dutch theatre bank for the first time during this SIBMAS congress. As technical limitations make it impossible to offer a live demonstration, I shall give a verbal presentation instead.

I will give a brief survey of the development, the basis principles and aims of our integrated production oriented data bank. It's content, possibilities, realisation and further development. Of course, I shall be pleased to answer any questions and to engage in discussion afterwards.

Basic principles and aims

Three large information and documentation centres on professional theatre in the Dutch-speaking countries began a theatre information system on 1 September 1991. This system is intended to support activities of these Institutes and to provide information as a product or service.

The organisations are:

• Netherlands Theatre Institute, Amsterdam

• Netherlands Dance Institute, Amsterdam

• Flemish Theatre Institute, Brussels

The Netherlands Mime Centre and the Netherlands Puppetry Institute in Amsterdam also take part in this data bank.

These institutions contribute to the further development of the theatre by collecting materials and data from the past and making them accessible, by providing information about and interpreting the present, and by preparing for the future. From this angle they collect and provide information, as well as organising various activities, such as research, discussions, publications and exhibitions, often in collaboration with national or international partners.

The institutes have a rich collection of publications, objects and data. These materials are of importance for rtists, teachers and students, theatres, journalists and the theatre public. The collections contain books and periodicals, costumes, programmes, reviews, audio and video material, scale replicas, prints and drawings, paintings, archives, letters, sheet music, posters and a data bank with information on Dutch and Flemish theatre covering the last decade.

The basic tool-kit for collecting, providing information, influencing opinion, (international) promotion, the promotion of expertise, exhibitions, publications, research and consulancy is an accessible, up-to-date documentation system which provides information for internal and external use.The previously documentation systems were outdated, non-integrated, labour-intensive, and had a low rate of efficiency.

The development of the new information system was based on the following considerations:

• an integrated data bank containing up-to-date information and material descriptions

• the data bank must be production-oriented

• capable of being consulted both by item and integrally

• the collection administration must be simplified

• it must be capable of providing management information to support the running of operations

• administrative applications for circulation, order of new materials and periodicals

• compatible with a medium for the storage of graphic data

• one-off data storage

• production of festival and theatre calenders

• address, member and subscriber records

• thesaurus administration

• two-level search system for users (with a menu of options) and specialists

• flexible report generator with various output possibilities

• multilingual, extensive security facilities, user logging and access via a modem (with a view to cooperation agreements)

• a pc version running under MS-DOS

None of the available systems proved to meet all these requirements. TANDEM was not fully applicable to the Dutch situation and was not flexible enough. After approaching various firms, we chose Databasix Information Systems as the one which came closest to satisfying our requirements for a reasonable price.

A year was spent on developing, elaborating and testing the system. The existing files from the electronic data bank extended at the Nthl and NID since 1983 were converted. Implementation is a large-scale matter which will take a number of years, and it will make demands on the staff and on organisational and financial resources.

On the other hand, the result will be a system which is more compact and easier to manage, resulting in a reduction in expenditure in the long run.

Content of the data bank

The system consists of an integrated production-oriented data bank containing information on the theatre in the Dutch-speaking countries and recent theatre at home and abroad, as well as descriptions of the materials available information;

• Production documentation; systematic and comprehensive documentation on all professional theatre performances in the Netherlands. The documentation covers every premiere of the professional theatre companies in the Netherlands, including dance, drama, music theatre, puppet theatre, amusement theatre, mime and young people's theatre. Both foreign performances in the Netherlands and Dutch performances abroad are covered. The documentation is by title / original title / company / producer / persons / functions / date and place of premiere / discipline and key words. It is possible to include dates of performances.

• Addresses of theatre companies, venues, persons, institutions, festivals, training courses, members, contacts, donors, etc.

• Biographical information on theatre personalities, including name, dates, training, awards, functions and career.

• Information on theatre venues, companies, institutions and festivals, including name, dates, history, career, range

• uniform descriptions of the various objects in each of the theatre collections, e.i. posters, costumes, videos, books, sheet music, magazine articles, scale replicas, letters, archives, prints, drawings, etc. The documentation is by number / type of material / original title / persons / functions / dimensions/ provenance / condition / connection with production, theatre, producer, institution, other materials / discipline / key words / etc.

other applications;
including; word processing, statistics and administration.

Possibilities

The following options are available from the main menu: input, search, loan, order and periodicals, as well as print. The input formats for the various types of material are uniform. In other words, posters, archives, sheet music, books, costumes, etc. are described using the same input format (spread over different screens). A list of objects is kept up to date, and this serves as the basis for loans.

In addition, there are naturally input formats for productions, programme dates and other files with the corresponding addresses. Cross-reference is possible with the existing productions, producers, persons, venues, institutions, thesauri, festivals, awards and other materials, such as the score of an opera which has never been performed in the Netherlands. In the case of all these files and other validation fields such as disciplines, original title, programme dates, etc., the input can be checked by means of indexes. This means that there is always a check on the input, although this does not mean that input errors are impossible.
There are also all kinds of cross- references, so that pseudonyms, changes of name of producers and address details, such as for more than one auditorium within a theatre with only one address, do not cause confusion and modifications only have to be carried out once.

The entire input follows the terminology of the theatre thesaurus. A by Nthl, in corporation with the members of the SCTC, developed unique thesaurus special made for theater.

It is possible to search for materials, productions or a combination of both, persons, venues, producers, institutions, festivals, programme dates, awards and addresses, as well as combinations of them. A search can be carried out from a menu or using commands. The menu is used for the most frequent inquires; commands can be used for searches in each field containing data or a combination of different fields. Common inquires from the users are:

• Which productions of Hamlet have been performed in the Netherlands, and what material relating to them is available

• Which scale replicas does the Nthl have, as well as questions like who is the designer, where does he live, when was the premiere of the production for which this scale replica was made

• Which Botho Strauss plays did Gerardjan Rijnders direct in the 1989/90 season

• How many dance premieres were performed in Flanders during the last three seasons, and what were they

• Which original Dutch-language plays have been performed during the last ten years, and which scripts are available

• What are the theatre design training courses in the Netherlands, and were are they given

• Which videos of Pina Bausch or which sheet music of Bertolt Brecht are available

Common management inquires are:

• How many books were lent in the first quarter

• What materials are there from the estate of Fie Carelsen

• Which posters are in need of restoration in the near future.

The data are presented on the screen. They can be printed and proceeded for publication.

The screen presentation is a selection of the input data which is most often required, generally uniformly sorted, often using ISBD or other standard classifications. This information can also be printed. In fact, virtually any conceivable presentation is possible. For instance, sub-catalogues, exhibition texts, labels, thesauri, and statistical surveys can be compiled with a minimum of delay. The first product to be made using this system is the Theater Thesaurus released in September 1992. The documentary part of the Dutch Theatre and Dance Year books for the 1991/92 season, which will be published in the autumn of 1992, will be produced in this manner for the first time this year, including indexes, address lists, etc. The information for the International Venue Guide to appear in 1993 (on floppy disk) and the next International Festival Guide are derived from the system.

Technical specification

Hardware

The heart of the Information Collection System is a Prime 2455 minicomputer with 4 Mb internal memory and 2x328 Mb hard disk.

Terminals, printers and a modem are connected by 15 RS-232 connections. There is also a Thin Ethernet network connected to the computer. PCs are connected to this network using N15210 Racal Interlan Network cards.

Software

The prime computer uses the Primos Operating System (version 23). The application is Adlib, produced by the Databasix company, our application is based on this information retrieval system.

Network communication is by TCP/IP software.

Further development

By 1 September 1992 all the input manuals were ready and both newly processed materials and current documentation could be described using the new system. Press clippings, programmes and photographs are not described separately for the time being, but there is an indication as to whether these materials are available in the collections for a particular production.

Production documentation and periodical articles from 1983 on have been converted by now, but they still have to be checked. All videos and policy documents have also been converted. The descriptions of scale replicas and the addresses will be entered in the autumn. Whether we can begin the retrospective entering of the existing catalogues in 1992 depends on the funds available, since this task is estimated to take approx. 19 men years.

At present there is no on-line public catalogue. We hope to realise this as soon as possible.

A pc version will be developed in 1993 for the further elaboration and distribution of this unique integrated and production-oriented information and collection system, which is also essential for further ( international) cooperation with other institutions. Manuals will be prepared and rates fixed in due course, with translations where necessary.

Concluding remarks

This is an attempt to provide a brief survey of how this unique theatre information system has been set up. It has been an immense and expensive operation. The preliminary research cost f 20,00. The hardware and software, including installation, conversion, maintenance and instruction, cost around f 200,00, excluding printers and PCs. Of course, these costs have been borne by the partner institutions and will be written off over a number of years. On the other hand, the quality of the information has been improved by a more flexible processing, the information has been made more compact and manageable, and there will be long-term reductions in expenditure.

19th Congress

URL: http://www.sibmas.org/congresses/sibmas92/lisb12.htm