Digitising in-house or using vendors

State Library of Queensland digitises collection materials both in-house and via vendors. The following information may help you make decisions if you decide to set up an in-house process or want to use vendors for digitisation of your historical collections. A combination of both works as well.

Tips for digitisation processing of heritage materials

Ask these questions first:

Are you digitising for access or preservation or both?
Do you have an inventory and a plan for digitisation?
What is your budget?
Have you checked to see if your material is digitised elsewhere?
Have you thought about copyright issues?
Do you have a standard way to describe your material?
Do you have a way to make content accessible?
Do you have a way to store/preserve digital files with backup?

Digitisation in-house

This means equipment purchases. Basic equipment outlined below will allow you to digitise books, registers, volumes, documents, maps, plans, files, illustrations, photographs, negatives and transparencies.

Obtain an overhead copy stand, a reliable digital camera and book cradle/pillow to support materials.
Follow SLQ digitisation standards [PDF 340kb]
You would probably do best producing your digitised content into pdf format.
You can also apply OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to pdfs to create keyword searchable documents. Look at this site for comparisons:
http://digitisation.unimelb.edu.au/project_planning/image_processing/ocr
You may also find this information useful http://hosting.collectionsaustralia.net/capture

Using external vendors

If you wish to pursue using an external published content digitisation service provider, you may want to consult with the following. This is not an exhaustive list. If you have other items to digitise (letters, post cards, photographs, etc), you may wish to consult with local vendors.

CAVAL – automated Kirtas book scanner service
SALMAT – Overhead Book Scanner – manual (more suitable for fragile collections)
Scan Conversion

Before digitising in-house or with a vendor

Establish digitisation standards.
Decide what you want the end product to look like and how you will deliver online.
For most digitisation projects, you will need to have consistent description of the material. Get basic information at: http://hosting.collectionsaustralia.net/capture
Look at SLQ description standards [PDF 340kb]
You will need to be able to provide technical information for in-house services and for vendor contracts.
Decide on file naming protocols. Be consistent in your file naming strategy.
Decide on long-term storage/preservation.
Set up a spec sheet/job sheet with your staff or vendor that outlines expected outcomes.
Check with staff throughout your organisation about expectations. Many people will need/use digitised materials.
Provide training on scanners, digital cameras, computer software, file storage and how to handle an archive.

When you are ready to digitise in-house or with a vendor

Ask staff/vendor to provide samples before starting a large job.
Know how you are going to make your materials accessible.
Have all staff involved check samples for compatibility with expected outcomes.
Ensure that your staff/vendor is able to deliver digital files that meet expectations on time.
Determine method of file delivery both to and from.
Determine points of quality control both for in-house and with vendor.

Upon receipt from staff/vendor

Do quality control upon receipt. Request corrections as needed.
Provide pre-determined level of access/method of access to stakeholders.
Use samples of content to tell your story, blog, newsletters, presentations.
Share with SLQ and others in distributed collection.
Provide online access to content.
Have a preservation method for digital files, with backup.

How to make your content accessible

Ensure that you have a way to make content accessible.
You can use free social medial platforms such as flickr, Facebook.
Use your own website, blogs, portals.
Try to stay away from stand-along computers that have limited access.

How to store digital files upon receipt

Upon receipt of digital files from a vendor or in house, you will need to have a way to store files. Best practice is to have a server, backed up and secure. Also have a preservation policy that ensures your files are accessible into the future. If you cannot afford or do not have a server, you may backup your digital files on a portable hard drive, portable USBs or portable dvds. Just remember, as technology progresses, some of these options may not be accessible in the future.

Fact sheet 5: Digitising in-house or using vendors [PDF 186kb]