Opening Archives to Society: The Experience from the Folklore Archive at Rovira i Virgili University

Abstract

The Folklore Archive at the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) is a university archive. The materials it stores are products of the fieldwork conducted by students on the Catalan Studies programme and the work done by professors researching into folk literature. From the year of its creation to the present, the Archive has adapted to the needs of the society of which it is a part. The present article discusses two issues. First, it explains how the results from our university research are transferred from the Archive to society (web, specialized digital resources, social networks, etc.). And second, it describes a specific activity entitled La ciutat a cau d’orella (The whispering city), which focuses on legends and involves several entities in Tarragona (city hall, public library, schools, youth organizations, writing workshops, etc.). This activity can be regarded as a way of developing mutual relations between the academic world and the general public.