The AMIA Moving Image Collections Project (AMIA-MIC) Subcommittee of the Cataloging and Documentation Committee assumed responsibility to assess national cataloging and the requirements for a moving image cataloging center begun by CUSNMIPP. With funding generously provided by the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress, the AMIA Board hired Grace Agnew in October 2000 on the recommendation of the AMIA Moving Image Collections Project (AMIA-MIC) Subcommittee. The consultant interviewed experts in the field and determined the requirements for creating or enabling an organization to build and maintain a portal for moving image materials held by national and international archives. The consultant prepared a comprehensive report that was presented to the AMIA Board of Directors and the Library of Congress. After review of the report, the Library of Congress offered to serve as the permanent host site for Moving Image Collections, to continue the ongoing collaboration of the Library of Congress and AMIA in the areas of preservation, cataloging, film research and educational outreach.

The goal of the MIC is to provide a window to the world's moving image collections for educators, researchers, exhibitors, and the general public that also allows preservationists to collaborate in describing and maintaining these unique cultural resource and thus avoid costly duplication of effort. Moving images are unique in the use of multiple information streams (audio, visual and textual) to provide a compelling and immersive educational experience. Yet, moving images have remained isolated from the mainstream as an information resource, rarely cited in research papers, for example, or consulted as primary reference sources. Therefore an important objective of the Moving Image Collections project is to bring a very flexible but standardized metadata architecture to these diverse resources to integrate moving images into the information mainstream with the understanding that society values most highly what it understands and uses.

Moving Image Collections has been designed with several innovative components:

1. A directory of moving image archives worldwide that collects information in areas such as size and formats of collection, archive roles and audiences served, collection preservation status and issues, and collection genres. In addition, the directory will support free-text information fields and graphics to generate a dynamic web page for each archive. The tight integration of the directory with the union catalog to build a dynamic information space is one of the key innovations of the MIC design.

1. Cataloging Facilities to enable any participating archive to create records in at least two standardized descriptive cataloging formats-MARC21 and Dublin Core--for ingest into the MIC. This cataloging facility will serve as a significant outreach tool to the many smaller archives that lack a web-based catalog. In addition to creating standards-based records for ingest and export, database implementations in low-cost or open source database management systems, such as My SQL, Microsoft Access and Filemaker Pro will be provided.

A union catalog that incorporates both open-source Z39.50 capabilities and support for the Open Archives Initiative. This innovative structure involves a metadata record structure that provides several innovative features:

1. mapping to core data elements in a registry both to aid in record ingest and to provide consistent, interpretable search results,
2. support for the archive's own data element labels and data element display order
3. extensible format-independent metadata design that accommodates searching, export and display in MARC21, Dublin Core, the archive's own format and additional metadata record formats adopted by the MIC, such as MPEG-7

3. A flexible portal design that integrates directory information with the union catalog to provide dynamic portal generation based on user-selected criteria (e.g. format, geographic location, collection genre types, audience served, archive roles) as well as more durable portals developed and maintained by AMIA or by participating archives (e.g. digital video portals, feature film archives, subject-specific portals, etc.).

4. Science Goes to the Movies Science Educators Portal. An exciting initial implementation of the MIC will be the science educators' portal, Science Goes to the Movies, which will add value to existing metadata through educational metadata extensions as well as providing an education and outreach space for science educators.

5. Archivists Portal. An archivists portal will be developed with rich displays of information from the directory database, including technical information about formats, film bases, and gauges, as well as preservation and cataloging practice, to foster collaboration and networking among archives professionals.

6. A web presence for every participating archive. The consultant discovered through interviews that a significant number of smaller AMIA archives lack a web-based catalog or any web presence, beyond a home page. The directory and the metadata architecture of the union catalog are designed to generate dynamic home pages as well as dynamic search and display screens to provide an immediate web presence and web-based catalog for any participating archive.

7. An outreach and education space that provides features such as:
   1. step-by-step instructions for installing and implementing supported databases and cataloging in supported formats
   2. a clearinghouse with links to information on cataloging and preserving moving image materials
   3. links to training and conference opportunities, scholarships and grants

Archival Community Involvement

The Association of Moving Image Archivists' (AMIA) community and the Library of Congress are actively involved in all phases of the MIC development process. The Archives Directory Working Group developed the data elements for the archives directory database. The MIC Technical Committee will revise and extend the draft core registry of bibliographic data elements for the union catalog database. Both committees, together with the alpha implementers group, will develop record displays and participate in the design of dynamic web pages from the directory database. The community will also actively participate in the design of the website, the archivists portal, and the outreach and education section for the community, in a manner still to be determined.

Alpha implementer sites will provide metadata records for all moving image materials or a focused subset of their moving image materials to the MIC. They will submit a directory record for their archive and may actively participate in all functionalities of the MIC architecture (dynamic web pages, search portals, etc.) to test the gateway architecture and to contribute to its design, evaluation and revision. Alpha implementer sites will represent a range of moving image archives with materials in film, video and digital formats. Small and large collections representing different genres and target audiences are being selected with a heavy initial focus on the sciences, which are underrepresented on the world wide web. Alpha implementer sites may be actively involved in the revision, testing and evaluation of the AMIA MIC core registry elements, the metadata display and export formats and all initial functionalities of the gateway.

Science Educators Advisory Board.

An advisory board of prominent science educators from K-20 located in the Northeast will evaluate the functionality and usefulness of the MIC, with a particular focus on the science education web portal, Science Goes to the Movies. The Board will also be asked to identify other science educators to evaluate the site, to market the site to science educators through presentations and other outreach activities and to actively contribute to the Education and Outreach section of the website.