Digitizing Special Formats

This list of resources is curated by the Digital Library Federation for the benefit of cultural heritage professionals planning projects involving the digitization of rare and unique materials. Applicants to the Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives and Recordings at Risk programs of the Council on Library and Information Resources may find these helpful in planning project proposals.

Rather than providing comprehensive coverage, this list includes introductory and reference materials that are good places to begin an exploration of issues of broad import to digitizing cultural heritage materials.

Content for this wiki page is currently being curated by the following team: Nicholas Graham, Project Coordinator, North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, Lisa Gregory, Digital Projects Librarian, North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, and Tamsyn Rose-Steel, CLIR/DLF Postdoctoral Fellow for Data Curation in Medieval Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

If you would like to suggest a resource for inclusion on this page, send your suggestion to DigiWiki@clir.org. The DLF is currently seeking professionals from DLF member institutions who would like to participate in a curatorial group to develop and maintain the content of this page. Prospective volunteers for this group should also send expressions of interest to DigiWiki@clir.org.

Getting Started with Designing a Digital Preservation Plan

This section includes resources that will give an overview of the concepts that a cultural heritage institution will consider as it designs a digital preservation plan for digitally reformatted materials. Many of these resources give special attention to concepts and strategies that will be of particular use to institutions working to construct a plan from scratch or with limited financial and technical means. Resources that focus on particular types of collections are included in separate categories.

General

Thanks to the WikiProject Digital Preservation, the information about digital preservation on Wikipedia is substantial and current.

The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) has published the NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation, “a tiered set of recommendations for how organizations should begin to build or enhance their digital preservation activities.” Additionally, the 2015 NDSA National Agenda for Digital Stewardship provides a broad overview of current "challenges, opportunities, gaps, and trends" related to building and maintaining digital collections in the United States.

The Digital Preservation Coalition’s Digital Preservation Handbook (now in its second edition) is “an internationally authoritative and practical guide to the subject of managing digital resources over time and the issues in sustaining access to them.” The Handbook includes a useful overview of audio and audiovisual content, including links to many other resources.

Digital Preservation Management: Short-Term Strategies for Long-Term Problems is a comprehensive tutorial created by Cornell University Libraries with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is now hosted by the MIT Libraries.

From Theory to Action: “Good Enough” Digital Preservation Solutions for Under-Resourced Cultural Heritage Institutions (2014) is a white paper compiling the results of a three-year study of affordable, scalable digital preservation solutions suitable for under-resourced organizations.

The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) has compiled a Digital Preservation Reading List that provides a thorough introduction to the challenges of digital preservation as they relate to cultural heritage collections. Additional links to resources related to digital preservation are provided on NEDCC's website.

Newspaper Collections

The Guidelines for Digital Newspaper Preservation Readiness address a specific set of preservation challenges faced by libraries, archives, historical societies, and other organizations that curate substantial collections of digital newspaper content. Guidelines was written by Katherine Skinner and Mat Schultz and was published by the Educopia Institute in 2014.

Enhancing Access and Discoverability

This section curated by Tamsyn Rose-Steel, CLIR/DLF Postdoctoral Fellow for Data Curation in Medieval Studies.

Metadata Aggregation

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) aggregates the metadata of digital collections held in educational and cultural heritage institutions across the United States. Institutions with large digital collections may contribute data as Content Hubs, while smaller organizations may contribute through local or regional Service Hubs. Contributors must abide by the DPLA's data policies in order to participate.
See also: An Introduction to the DPLA Metadata Model (pdf);
The DPLA Metadata Application Profile;
DPLA Metadata Aggregation Webinar Recording, 1/22/15;
North Carolina Digital Heritage Center’s DPLA Aggregation Tools on Github;
Setting Up a Repository for Harvest, Mountain West Digital Library;
Portal Partners Page, The Portal to Texas History

Registries

The Print Archives Preservation Registry (PAPR) collects information about serial titles, print holdings, and archiving terms and conditions. It is a valuable resource for assessing the uniqueness of serial collections and determining the degree of need for digitization of those collections.

Search Engine Optimization

Getting Found: the SEO Cookbook provides a step-by-step video guide to help libraries measure and monitor the search engine optimization (SEO) performance of their digital repositories. The Cookbook includes everything necessary to implement a preconfigured Google Analytics dashboard that continuously monitors SEO performance metrics relevant to digital repositories.
The Wikipedia Library offers resources to help cultural heritage institutions expose their collections through Wikipedia. As a common starting point for research, Wikipedia can be used to direct researchers to libraries where the resources can be accessed directly.

Accessibility

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Web Accessibility Toolkit explains the principles of accessibility, universal design, and digital inclusion, and offers tips about best practices and checklists for digital repository creators that can help them ensure digitized content is as broadly accessible as possible.

Enhancing Access and Discoverability to Media Collections

The Media Ecology Project (Dartmouth College) "provides online access to primary moving image research materials, and engages dynamic new forms of scholarly production and online publishing."

Digital Repositories

This section curated by Tamsyn Rose-Steel, CLIR/DLF Postdoctoral Fellow for Data Curation in Medieval Studies.

General

Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
The Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification: Criteria and Checklist (TRAC) describes the characteristics of secure and sustainable digital repository management.
The Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) is an international directory of academic open access repositories, useful for those seeking options for depositing digital collections or models for developing new digital repositories.

Storage

Distributed Digital Preservation in the Cloud

Digital Reformatting

General

The Sustainability of Digital Formats page provides detailed descriptions and notes on sustainability issues for hundreds of digital file formats.

Audio and Audiovisual

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) released the ARSC Guide to Audio Preservation in 2015 as a practical introduction to caring for and preserving audio collections. It is aimed at individuals and institutions that have recorded sound collections but lack the expertise in one or more areas to preserve them.
In 2016, the Audio-Visual Working Group of the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative's released Guidelines: Motion Picture Film Scanning Projects. This report includes "an introductory essay, a set of tables that describe a range of film 'inputs' and digital 'outputs,' and concludes with a model statement of work for outsourced conversion of film to video." Film digitization standards are still in the early stages of development, but this report provides a solid understanding of current best practices.

Still Image

The Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative’s (FADGI) Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials focuses on defining practical methods and requirements for imaging projects.The FADGI Star System provides institutions with guidance in how to tailor a digitization effort based on a desired level of quality for the end product, from low-quality surrogates that provide only informational value to high quality image capturing.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

This section curated by Nicholas Graham and Lisa Gregory of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

General

Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums by Peter Hirtle, Emily Hudson, and Andrew Kenyon (2009) provides comprehensive coverage of all major copyright issues relevant to digitization in cultural heritage institutions. This work is also available in print from the Society of American Archivists.

The Association of Research Libraries, in particular its initiatives on Transforming Special Collections in the Digital Age and on Copyright and Intellectual Property, has published a variety of documents relevant to the digitization of special collections and archives, including a 2012 special issue of Research Library Issues that covers legal concerns related to digitizing rare and unique materials.

Determining Copyright Status

The ALA Copyright Slider is a simple, user-friendly guide to determining copyright status of works.

Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States contains a helpful and very thorough chart for determining the copyright status of works created and/or published in the United States.

Copyright and Related Issues Relevant to Digital Preservation and Dissemination of Unpublished Pre-1972 Sound Recordings by Libraries and Archives describes what libraries and archives can legally do to preserve and make accessible holdings of unpublished sound recordings.

Recommendations for Standardized International Rights Statements is a white paper summarizing the conclusions of a working group convened by the Digital Public Library of America and Europeana.

Orphan Works

The Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use of Collections Containing Orphan Works for Libraries, Archives, and Other Memory Institutions developed by the Center for Media & Social Impact at American University and the UC Berkeley School of Law, includes clear guiding principles for us in determining when to apply fair use in the digitization and online publication of orphan works. The statement was produced after talking with librarians and archivists around the country.

In 2009, the Society of American Archivists issued Orphan Works: Statement of Best Practices to guide decision-making in conducting research into the copyright status of unpublished collections. The document includes a variety of useful links and appendices.

Provenance, Privacy, and Ethics

The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums maintains a list of resources relevant to the care of cultural materials of indigenous peoples.

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) has convened a task force to revise and strengthen the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (PNAAM), based upon a document produced in 2007. The draft document contains a useful bibliography of general resources on archives and ethics.

The SAA case study, Identifying Culturally Sensitive American Indian Material in a Non-tribal Institution, provides one example of how an institution interpreted the Protocols and the SAA Code of Ethics.

Archives and Digital Inequality, annotated collaborative bibliography is a collections of resources and readings by the Archives and Digital Inequality pop-up session at SAA 2016.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has maintained a bibliography of online resources titled the Ethics of Exhibiting Culturally Sensitive Materials Online. This bibliography was last updated in 2010.

The ALA Privacy Toolkit

Funding Opportunities

This section includes a listing of organizations that provide support for projects involving digitization of archival materials for preservation and access. This list is not exhaustive and submissions are encouraged (send submissions to DigiWiki@clir.org).

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) supports digitization and related activities through the Collections and Reference Resources program, the National Digital Newspaper Program, and the Preservation and Access Research and Development grants.

The National Historical Publications & Records Commission (NHPRC) offers funding for digitization and related activities through the to Historical Records program and the Digital Dissemination of Archival Collections program.

Education and Training Opportunities

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), working in partnership with trainers at the Digital Commonwealth, the Digital Library of Georgia, the Minnesota Digital Library, the Montana Memory Project, and the Mountain West Digital Library, have developed a workshop curriculum based on documented best practices for library digitization. A self-guided version of the curriculum intended for digitization beginners is available on the DPLA website through the Public Library Partnerships Project.

Lyrasis offers a variety of classes relevant to digitization and digital content management, such as Introduction to Audio Visual Digitization, Introduction to Digital Project Management Planning, and Digitization for Small Institutions. The classes and events schedule contains up-to-date information about offerings.

The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) offers a variety of programs, including several related to digital collections and digital preservation.

The Sustainable Heritage Network offers a variety of in-person and online tutorials related to archival best practices, ethics, appraisal, processing, and digitization.

Information from Digitization Service Providers

NOTE: This section is provided for convenience and information only. The Digital Library Federation and the Council on Library and Information Resources do not recommend or endorse any specific digitization service provider, and the use or non-use of any particular provider has no bearing upon any applicant's consideration in the Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives or Recordings at Risk competitions.

BMI Imaging Systems, Inc. enables libraries to transform microfilm records into a digital format that provides easy access and image enhancement capabilities never seen before. In addition to the archival TIFF used for inclusion to the State/National repositories, BMI provides a solution that allows patrons to scroll digital microfilm rolls from a computer and use full text search to find records, articles, and photos for interim access. Adjustable grayscale allows users to turn black and white images into real photos. For more information please contact Jake Walker at (800) 488-3456 ext 406 or jwalker@bmiimaging.com.

DataBank is a National Document & Information Management Company with over 23 years of experience in document conversion and automation. Their areas of expertise include the conversion of photos, archival documents and legacy microfilm or microfiche collections. They offer seamless integration with repositories for storage and retrieval of scanned media. For additional information contact Kathy Berger, Senior Solutions Consultant, at kberger@databankimx.com or at (603) 463-0154.

Digital Revolution is a full service Multi Media facility located in the heart of San Francisco. Founded by Paul Grippaldi in 2004, Digital Revolution is dedicated to helping clients create high quality digital media. From Legacy Media Digitizing : Preservation : Archiving : Video Creation : Post Production : Disc & USB Copying Services, Digital Revolution is the choice of Corporations, Educational Institutions, Non-Profits, Film Companies, Government Agencies and Individuals for their multi-media needs. For additional information call Digital Revolution at 415-398-1200.

The Internet Archive (IA) is one of the world’s largest public digital libraries, with an extensive collection of human culture. The goal is to provide free access to all knowledge in an accessible, digital format for researchers, historians, people with disabilities, and the general public. The Internet Archive also offers online access and discovery of digital content, including public domain eBooks and a more selective collection of public domain and non-public domain texts available for lending at OpenLibrary.org.

IA offers non-destructive digitization with a range of analog and born-digital formats, including: printed materials that are bound and unbound (books, magazines, yearbooks, etc.), archival materials, photographs, microfilm, microfiche, film and video (8mm and 16mm). Services include photographic imaging, digital processing, preservation, and access to digital data. Items to be digitized can be sent to one of 33 regional digitization centers around the world, or portable equipment can be placed on-site within libraries and archives. Questions: DigitalLibraries@archive.org

For an overview of the Internet Archive workflow, please click this link; To reach one of the Internet Archive centers, view contact info at this link; and to purchase digitization equipment, follow this link.

Luna Imaging, Inc. offers digitization and software & hosting services for building and maintaining digital collections. Digitization services include: Preservation scanning; Access capture; Book capture services; and OCR, PDF, BookReader processing.

LYRASIS can support special collections and archival digitization projects by providing:

Digitization and Project Management Services – working through its Digitization Collaborative LYRASIS can digitize a wide range of source materials including print/manuscript/microfilm/photographic materials/audio/video and film and manage the process for you.
Staff Expertise – information on processes and standards for project planning
Professional Development Opportunities – LYRASIS offers a wide range of classes and can provide specific digitization classes to suit local needs.

The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) is an independent conservation laboratory specializing in the conservation and preservation of paper-based collections. NEDCC provides professional conservation treatment for books, maps, photographs, documents, parchment, papyrus, manuscripts, architectural plans, and works of art on paper. NEDCC’s Imaging Services department provides digital imaging services and specializes in rare, historic, and oversize materials, as well as X-Ray Film scanning and reformatting for black and white and color negative films and color transparencies.

Northern Micrographics has over 60 years experience partnering with clients in library, academic, commercial and industrial markets to provide superior preservation imaging products and services. They scan a variety of object types including bound and disbound volumes, photos, maps, microfilm and microfiche. Northern Micrographics can also help place digital collections online with custom software products, ProSeek® and PhotoAtlasTM. They also offer a variety of other services including microfilming, microfilm duplication, metadata development, data conversions, hosting and book binding. Contact Northern Micrographics at 800-236-0850 or at sales@nmt.com to learn more.

Stanford University Libraries (SUL) Digitization Services is a fully-integrated service provider tailored to meet libraries, archives and museums’ heterogeneous collection needs. SUL digitization services support three families of content format: paper-based materials, audiovisual media and born-digital files.

SUL Digitization Services offers:

Digitization of original materials;
Large format scanning and image stitching;
Reformatting of audio and moving image content;
Reformatting and recovery of files from digital media;
Preservation-quality master file creation;
Derivative file creation for discovery and access;
Secure storage and handling of original materials;
OCR text processing in plain text, ALTO or PDF;
Project consultation and planning;
RFP consultation and vendor management;
Onsite digitization for fragile content;
Long-term preservation; and
Content hosting and discovery solutions.

Stanford University Library's digitization services are provided by Digital Library Systems and Services. For inquiries regarding digitization services, contact digitization-contact@lists.stanford.edu. SUL Digitization Services' brochure provides full details for potential partners.

Two Cat Digital has been providing world-class digital imaging and consulting services since 2003 with a particular emphasis on cultural heritage institutions and materials. Their passion is in designing and managing efficient digitization workflows, and for helping clients bring their valuable collections to light. Two Cat clients include hundreds of institutions including museums, libraries, universities, government agencies, architects, photographers and non-profit organizations. For additional information contact Two Cat at info@twocatdigital.com.

If you would like to suggest a resource for inclusion on this page, send your suggestion to DigiWiki@clir.org. The DLF is currently seeking professionals from DLF member institutions who would like to participate in a working group to develop and maintain the content of this page. Prospective volunteers for this group should also send expressions of interest to DigiWiki@clir.org.