The Concept:  

This proposed project would work to establish an ongoing official archive of INSP street papers in partnership with a recognised library institution. The project would be centrally co-ordinated by INSP with the majority of set-up work carried out through a designated internship position.  It is envisaged that it would be in the form of an online digital archive.   

Project’s Core Aims: 

This project would serve to:

• Provide a permanent, safe and accessible record to preserve the hundreds of street paper issues (various: 1995-present) that INSP currently stores in Scotland.*
• Highlight the value of INSP street papers as providing social programmes for homeless people as well as an important independent media sources with historical significance.
• Allow members to access past issues of fellow street papers and create a more cohesive street paper network.
• Further market the street paper movement by providing a record of its existence and accomplishments.

Outline: 

• INSP would source and work with a local postgraduate student intern who is studying library and information sciences. The archival intern, overseen by the INSP staff, would develop a method of organising the archive and also research and establish a relationship with a library institution that is interested in housing the world’s only archive of international street papers.
• It is envisaged that a digital archive would be established.  When complete, INSP hopes that this resource could also be accessed online for the greatest accessibility as a public resource.
• The archive may possibly include two additional aspects:
• 1) Items relevant to the institutional and material history of the street paper movement (board meeting notes, annual reports, conference documents etc)
• 2) A ‘snapshot’ exhibition of interesting street paper artefacts (street paper covers, street paper merchandise, photographs etc) that will provide a physical overview of the overall online collection and promote the digital archive within the local library institution.

Next Steps: 

• Phase 1: Member Questionnaire

Conduct a survey of member organizations to assess current preservation activities; current digitization activities and/or online access to street paper content; gauge member interest in participating in archival program. 

• Phase 2: Preservation and Archival Toolkit

Compile and distribute via ‘toolkit’ on the members’ area of our website a set of recommended practices around preservation and archiving to be followed by individual member papers undertaking their own preservation activities locally.

• Phase 3: Online Catalogue of Existing Street Paper Archives

This is not an archive but a centralized access point to street paper content available online. This approach is not costly, but access is limited to what member organizations are willing or able to make available. This would take the form of a special INSP ‘Archive’ page on the website, with links to individual web archives of member papers on other sites. We can also use this to generate interest in the larger project and solicit donations, contacts, etc. 

• Phase 4: Pilot Project of International Online Archive (PDFs)

Solicit participation and investment from up to one street paper from every continent for a pilot online digital archive project. Solicit their back issues in PDF form as far back as they have them electronically and explore the possibility of local scanning of non-digitized past issues into PDFs. Secure server space to post a full archive of one street paper from each continent and set up a basic indexing system, by country, publication name, issue number, date, and potentially down to the level of article title. A tangible and compelling hook to solicit funding and support.

Member working group:

Current working group members as of June 2009: Serge Lareault (L'Itineraire & INSP Chairperson),Trudy Vlok (The Big issue South Africa & INSP board member), Sandra Tordova (Nota Bene, Slovakia), Lynette Bondarchuk (Our Voice, Canada), Godelive Murenguko (Clin d'Oeil, Burundi), Norma Green (NASNA Associate Member), Erin Anderson (Former INSP employee) and Eleni Kolliopoulou (Formerly of Dromologia, Greece)

If you are interested in joining the INSP member working group for this project, please contact Maree Aldam on: m.aldam@street-papers.org

* Thank you to INSP intern Jean Lee who has worked on developing INSP’s Archive Project over the course of the last 5 months, from her home in the U.S.