Introduction
As a widespread phenomenon sound-archives have not been in existence for very many years compared to other types of archives and collections from man’s past. We have only just started to realize some of the problems which other forms of collections have had for many years; for instance the problem of preservation, and problems in connection with the rapid growth of collections in modern times. Suddenly, the collections may - for different reasons - be considered too large, awkward to handle and too difficult to use.
We all know - or have a clear suspicion - that audiovisual materials are much more difficult to preserve than documents. The cost of preservation may in the long term be so large that the necessary resources cannot be raised. Utilizing material in the archives, in research, in broadcasts or reused in the form of sound- or video-cassettes will for many subject-groups become a problem, because of the sheer size of the collections. It is not only limited space that causes us to declare the collections too large - audiovisual material is very, very slow to work with, and one can fear that some research-disciplines will give up using audiovisual material to answer traditional problems and questions if unreasonable amounts of time have to be used referring to audiovisual material compared to other forms of source-material. This problem should not be underestimated. The type of questions which the users of the archive expect an answer to after investment of a reasonable amount of work, will degenerate into simplification and end up in becoming irrelevant for serious research, if the collections are too large or confusing.
Up until now we have only seen the beginning of a selection-debate within the realm of sound-archives - and have been spared the merciless necessity of radical selection until now. This is the beginning of a debate which will last for many years and which will be constantly reformulated in connection with technological developments, changing types of users and economic development. The debate will be intensified and we will hear echoes of it every year at IASA conferences and many articles about the problems in the Phonographic Bulletin.
The problem of selection has many aspects and it can be discussed in several ways. It is of course impossible to solve the whole problem in one short session. This paper will, therefore, concentrate on a somewhat over-looked aspect; namely how selection is conceived of philosophically and methodologically. What kind of philosophical conception offers the best interpretation of the general structure in the selection process, and what type of methodological conception can, in the most fruitful way, be used in analysing the details of the selection process?
