The project of PhD Jacek P. Jackowski, head of the Phonographic Collection at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a member of the Liber Pro Arte Association, is crucial for the preservation of sound carriers documenting musical folklore in Poland. These recordings, dating back to the 1960s, are scattered in various institutions and local cultural institutions. Personnel changes, the changeability of the activity programs of these institutions in communes, districts and voivodships expose these collections prepared by local enthusiasts of traditional/ethnic/folk music to neglect, oblivion and destruction. PhD Jackowski has developed numerous contacts “with the area” and gained a good understanding of the “map” of recordings in Poland.

In addition to the necessary protection of these collections, their digitisation and scientific study, a problem for community centres, museums, etc. in the country is the inaccessibility of the old-type playback equipment (reel-to-reel tape recorders), on which singers, instrumentalists, folk bands and groups were once recorded. At the Institute of Polish Academy of Sciences, this equipment is kept on standby. Implementation of the project – protection in the form of digitisation and scientific elaboration of dispersed phonographic and audiovisual collections will be mutually beneficial both for local institutions (digital copies would find their place there) and for the archiving centre located at the Institute of Polish Academy of Sciences, and finally on-line access, agreed with the owners of the recordings, will be able to serve a wide audience.