TG4 appoints its first Archivist

TG4 wants to increase public access to the station’s digital archive as they celebrate 25 years on air. As a custodian of Irish language Linguistic Assets broadcasting legacy, The TG4 archive contains a valuable and varied repository of material.

The development of the digital archive will continue in 2022, work that has been ongoing since the end of 2011. When complete, TG4’s Irish Language Digital Archive will be one of the most extensive and significant bodies of Irish language audio-visual material in the world.

To this end, Máire Aoibhinn Ní Ógáin has been appointed as the station’s first Archivist. Máire Aoibhinn has expertise in TG4’s programme content in her role as TG4 Schedule Manager for over twenty years.

She has previously pioneered archive developments and schemes with the support of the BAI. She will build on that experience and advance technological and curated developments in the digital archive. She will start her new role as TG4 Archivist on February 1st, 2022.

Máire Aoibhinn Ní Ógáin “It is a privilege for me to take on this new role as TG4’s Archivist. The TG4 Archive is an important record of Irish history and a source of information that reflects the broadcasting heritage of TG4 and the development of Irish language broadcasting. There is a need to ensure access to the wealth of history, information, music and entertainment contained in the archive for our audiences.

“This material needs to be curated and preserved so that it is available to study and to enjoy. My goal would be to find new ways to use the archive as a historical and creative resource, to foster national and international partners and promote the importance of television archives in general.

“I look forward to taking on the new role with the same challenge and enthusiasm I have shown in my twenty five years of service to TG4 as Schedule Manager.”

Alan Esslemont, Director General of TG4 said “As we celebrate 25 years on air, TG4 has made a significant decision to appoint a lead of our valuable archive to ensure that TG4’s content is findable and available to the public. A lot of work has been done to date in digitising and cataloguing the archive with the support of the BAI, ITMA and Europus and we look forward to building on this work in 2022.

“Máire Aoibhinn has expertise of TG4’s programming content over the past quarter of a century. This new role is a big challenge and there is no doubt that Máire Aoibhinn along with other members of our talented team at TG4 will excel in this new role”