TMR Digital puts archives a mouse click away with The Archivist

TMR Digital, part of The VTR Group, is set to make managing vast quantities of archive material simple and cost effective with The Archivist, its new online archive management tool.
The idea of developing The Archivist system was borne out of TMR Digital’s experience of building bespoke archive and asset management systems for clients such as Movietone, Getty Images and COI. The aim behind The Archivist is to have an off-the-shelf system that will keep the cost of archive management operations down.
The archive management tool will be aimed at video, film and stills archive collections. This includes libraries, programme producers, broadcasters, museums, galleries basically anyone who has content they can make better use of online.
Currently in development, the product is a browser-based management tool that will allow users to generate revenue from archive material by managing and administering their databases. The Archivist removes the need to view VHS tapes or go hunting for material in a vault. By placing the archive in the online domain, it makes the process no more complicated than clicking a mouse.
Users, and their customers, can log in from anywhere in the world and store, search, preview and order videos and stills, as well as upload and download content. In addition, it can track orders, run audits and enable secure browser-based database searches.
The product is specifically geared for video archives, with support for video built in to the software. Unlike many asset management systems, it’s also designed with archive management in mind, rather than news or production environments. The Archivist will be available either as a turnkey solution or as a standalone software package. Once encoded, material is held on The Archivist database, with hosting and management of the entire operation done either by TMR Digital or by the customers themselves.
“It’s become an expectation that if you have an archive, it’s available online. We’ve come across a lot of clients that don’t have the budget for big bespoke archive systems. This is an affordable and effective alternative,” said Vanessa Arden-Wood, Online Services Director, TMR Digital. “With The Archivist, clients will be able to compete with the big players in the market and regain control of what happens to their archive.”
The Archivist will be available as a beta version in late September, with a product ready to ship by the end of the year.
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