Bildarkiv

Bildarkiv is a term for a collection of digital or physical images organized for retrieval and reuse by media organizations, libraries, museums, universities and other institutions. A bildarkiv typically includes photographs, negatives, scans, drawings and illustrations, often with captions, dates, authorship and other descriptive metadata. It is managed with a cataloging system that supports search by subject, people, location, event, date and rights.

Content and metadata: Archives store files in formats such as JPEG, TIFF or RAW, with metadata in EXIF, IPTC and XMP. Descriptive metadata may follow standards such as Dublin Core or local schemas; provenance and licensing data control reuse and attribution. Keywords, controlled vocabularies and identifiers improve searchability.

Access and rights: Access can be open, restricted, or on request. Rights management specifies usage terms, attribution and whether images may be used commercially. Some bildarkiv offer online search with previews; full‑resolution files may be restricted or licensed.

Preservation and management: Practices include digitization of holdings, metadata capture, backups, format migration and checksums. Long‑term preservation relies on redundant storage, periodic migration, and careful handling of originals. Institutions may follow standards influenced by OAIS.

Use and significance: Bildarkiv support journalism, scholarship, education and cultural heritage by providing access to visual sources for reporting, research and public programs. They are maintained by national libraries, museums, universities, media organizations and cultural institutions, sometimes with public portals.