Funding digitisation projects through publicprivate partnerships Parisienne de Photographie

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Funding digitisation projects through
public-private partnerships Parisienne de
Photographie the City of Paris museums
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ContextParis Cultural Heritage
Photo studio Leon Levy
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ContextParis Cultural Heritage

• 15 heritage institutions, some major museums,
  diversified collections holding close to 3
  million collection items.
• Photography prominent among the collections 1,3
  million photos, benefiting from a centralized
  conservation restoration department (ARCP)
• An aging internal reproduction service (non
  digital - 80,000 reproductions in 20 years)
• Heterogeneous reproduction, distribution
  collection management practises systems

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ContextHeritage and an inheritance
Photo Roger-Viollet
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ContextHeritage and an inheritance

• Agence Photographique Roger-Viollet, a private
  photographic archive created in 1938
• The Agency the collections were bequeathed to
  the City of Paris upon its founders death
• A large collection 7 million photos including
  close to 6 million negatives, covering 150 years
  of photography
• Commercial digitisation experience

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ContextWhat the City needed

• Move to digital reproduction (photographic non
  photographic collections)
• Create a single storage distribution outlet for
  digital images of the collections
• Manage a  problematic  bequeath to the City
• all within existing budget lines

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ContextThe solution

• Step 1 create a special purpose vehicule
  company integrating Roger-Viollet ? Parisienne de
  photographie in 2005
• Step 2 establish a contractual relationship
  allowing performance of general interest missions
  within a commercial environment ?appointed
  Parisienne de photographie in 2006

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GROUP STRUCTURE CAPITAL CONTROL
City of Paris (local authority)
Majority shareholder 67,5 of capital
Parisienne de Photographie (semi-public
local Company)
Other shareholders (private sector)
Unique shareholder 100 of capital
Roger-Viollet (private ltd company)
Minority shareholder 22,5 of capital
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What we are The structure

• A local  Société déconomie mixte  (SEM) a
  private limited company controlled in majority by
  a public autority (City of Paris)
• Other shareholders Caisse des Dépôts et
  Consignations, Caisse dEpargne, Alinari, Crédit
  Municipal, France Telecom
• A commercial enterprise with missions of general
  interest / public service
• Combines flexibility reactivity of private
  sector with public sector control

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GROUP STRUCTURE CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIPS
City of Paris Owner of collections (RV others)
Majority shareholder
Parisienne de Photographie Heritage related
missions
Public service delegation
Unique shareholder
Roger-Viollet Commercial distribution
Distribution agreement (sub-delegation)
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What we are The contract

•  Public service delegation  granted through a
  public tender process in August 2006 for 8 years
• Purpose to digitise and manage the reproduction
  rights to the Citys photographic iconographic
  collections
• Allows tight control over the performance of
  public interest missions by a third party whilst
  putting the economic risk on the operator.
• Started full scale operations in January 2007

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What we do from (re)production to distribution
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www.paris.fr (collection portal)
GROUP STRUCTURE WHO DOES WHAT
City of Paris Owner of collections (RV others)
www.parisiennedephotographie.fr (institutional)
Majority shareholder
Parisienne de Photographie Digitisation of
collections Cultural uses Management RV archive
PPP (public service delegation)
www.parisenimages.fr (General public)
Unique shareholder
Roger-Viollet Commercial distribution of
collections (City owned third party)
Distribution agreement
www.roger-viollet.fr (commercial)
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What we do (re)Production

• Digitise the Citys photographic collections
• Produce on demand digital reproductions of non
  photographic works from the collections
• Integrate metadata from catalogues index images
  (French English)
• Advise the City on best practises on digitisation
  digital collections management issues
• Manage maintain digital images database

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What we do (re)Production
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What we do The digitisation program

• Digitisation of 60,000 2 D collection items per
  year
• 1/2 City museums collections
• 1/2 Roger-Viollet archive
• Reproduction of 2,000 to 5,000 3D items
• Metadata integration indexation (French
  English)
• Validation by institutions

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What we do The digitisation program

• Yearly digitisation program
• Established by tripartite comitee
• Long term 1/3 preservation priorities
  (nitrocellulose films for the first few years)
• Medium term 1/3 related to museum activities
  (exhibitions, collection catalogues, major works)
• Short term 1/3 opportunistic / commercially
  driven

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What we doDistribution

• Deliver digital reproductions for all internal
  public service uses by the City of Paris
• Provide online access to the photographic
  collections to the general public
• Manage reproduction rights for commercial non
  commercial uses

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Distribution City own use

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Distribution Collections online catalogues
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Distribution Collections portals
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Distribution Institutional interface
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DistributionGeneral public Paris en Images
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DistributionEditorial commercial uses
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DistributionEditorial commercial
Roger-Viollet
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Does it work ?Budget funding

• Total budget of 3,2 million euros a year
• 2/3 personnel costs (40 people)
• Planned investment 400K in first 3 years
• Net cost to the City 600K / year
• 75 own ressources (reproduction rights)

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Does it work ?The  s 

• On target to reach quantitative goals
• Quality of production accessibility of images
  well rated by users (internal commercial)
• Sustainable business model so far
• Increased visibility of collections
• Development of a shared methodology

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Does it work ?The  -s 

• Coordination more problematic than expected
• Requires time human ressources from
  institutions to prepare collections to
  digitisation (manipulation metadata)
• Gray areas remain on certain aspects of the
  mission (pricing, definition of non commercial
  uses)
• An  identity  problem

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Conclusion Learning from the experience

• Prepare carefully
• Define own goals and select type of partners
  structure accordingly
• Verify compatibility
• Establish targets control
• Be realistic
• Define verifiable standards

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ConclusionLearning from the experience

• Do not underestimate economic aspect
• Evaluate market
• Be ready to pay / have the end user pay
• Factor in coordination preparation efforts
• Organisation
• Human ressources
• Digitisation will not save us all but it may
  help