University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center LSTA Digitization Grant Training Workshop January 11, 2005

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University of WisconsinDigital Collections
CenterLSTA Digitization Grant Training Workshop
January 11, 2005

• Content Selection for Digitization Projects
• Vicki Tobias, Digital Services Librarian

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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• How to begin?

• Survey holdings and evaluate collections

• are important to institution, users, community

• have value (historic, physical, monetary)

• are appropriate for digitization (intellectual
  content, physical format)

• Select content that

• meets project goals and deliverables

• can be digitized within appropriated resources

• should / may / can be digitized

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

• sufficient value and user demand to justify
  project

• achieves project goals

What may be digitized?

• rights or permission to create and disseminate a
  digital version

What can be digitized?

• necessary organization and descriptive information

• physical nature of materials

• technical criteria

• preservation or security issues

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

• value

• demand

• non-duplication

• added-value

• access and usability

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

Materials that have value

• rare or unique

• useful and accurate content

• important for understanding the relevant subject
  area

• broad or deep coverage of the relevant subject
  area

• information on subjects or groups otherwise
  poorly documented

• enhance institutions collection strengths

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

Materials that have value

• Value and benefit derived from digital project
  should justify resources required to complete
  project.

• Content should have sufficient intrinsic value to
  ensure ongoing use by a defined user group, for a
  significant period of time.

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

Materials for which there is internal demand

• important for institutions mission / function /
  collection policy

• support high priority activities

• advocacy for project among library staff and
  administration

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

Materials for which there is external demand

• heavy use items

• non-circulating items

• user groups

• reasonable expectation that the end-project will
  have utility for identified audiences

• an active current audience or realistic
  expectation for attracting new users

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

Materials not already digitized and publicly
available

• no identical or similar digital project exists
  that reasonably duplicates your project
  deliverables

• Check Google, ARL and other federated databases

• Review professional organizations links to
  digital resources (e.g. IMLS, Library of
  Congress, etc.)

• Evaluate like institutions digital resources for
  similarities

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

Materials for which digitization creates added
value

• create opportunity for new partnerships and
  collaboration

• contribute to development of a "critical mass" of
  digital materials in a subject area

• part of a collection physically housed among many
  institutions, yet united online

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should be digitized?

Materials for which digitization creates added
value

• Improved access and usability

• improved intellectual access creation of online
  finding aids, links to bibliographic records, and
  indices

• wider dissemination of local or unique collections

• increased access for heavy use materials

• improved quality for hard-to-use materials (e.g.,
  poor legibility, hand-written documents, etc.)

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What may be digitized?

Materials for which you have permission

• work or collection is in the public domain

• purpose for digitization lies within Fair Use
  policies

• institution owns the right to create and publish
  digital resource

• institution may acquire permission to create and
  publish digital resource

• privacy issues can be adequately addressed

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What can be digitized?

Materials for which appropriate intellectual
control exists or can be created for digital
version

• content organized and/or described in a way
  suited to online use

• existing cataloging, processing or other
  organizational work sufficient to create and use
  digital version

• resources necessary to create metadata sufficient
  to provide desired level of intellectual access

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What can be digitized?

Materials for which it is technically possible to
capture, present, and store images in ways that
meet user needs

• degree to which digital version conveys original
  content

• level of image and display quality required to
  meet user needs

• user ability to access images from
  institutionally-supported platforms and networked
  environments (e.g. internet connection speed)

• staff and resources available for technical
  support

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What can be digitized?

Materials for which it is technically possible to
capture, present, and store images in ways that
meet user needs

• give special consideration to content

• requiring high-resolution

• requiring fidelity to original color

• oversized or three-dimensional items

• poor legibility

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What can be digitized?

Materials for which preservation and security
issues have been considered

• digitization does not in itself constitute
  preservation

• preservation issues should be considered, both
  for the original content and the digital
  resources created

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What can be digitized?

Materials for which preservation and security
issues have been considered

• weigh safety issues related to digitization
  process

• condition of original content should allow for
  safe digitization

• digitization may damage original materials (e.g.
  disbinding, exposure to heat and light, and
  persistent handling)

• cost / benefit of potential damage vs end product

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What can be digitized?

Materials for which preservation and security
issues have been considered

• conservation work or re-housing may require
  additional resources

• consider digitizing from second generation
  materials (e.g. copy negatives, microfilm, etc.)

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What can be digitized?

Materials for which preservation and security
issues have been considered

• creation and use of digital surrogate may impact
  security and preservation

• reduce handling of older, more fragile materials

• provide access to materials at risk for theft or
  mutilation

• provide greater access to rare or highly
  valuable, non-circulating materials

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• What should / may / can be digitized

• Choose carefully to maximize the value, demand,
  access, use, preservation of original materials

• Consider audience, intellectual control,
  intellectual property rights, technical criteria,
  impact on institutional resources

• Use digitization to its greatest advantage

UW Digital Collections Center
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Content Selection for Digitization Projects

• Additional Resources

• Handbook for Digital Projects A Management Tool
  for Preservation and Accesswww.nedcc.org/digital/
  dighome.htm

• Columbia University Library Selection Criteria
  for Digital Imagingwww.columbia.edu/cu/libraries
  /digital/criteria.html

• University of California Selection Criteria for
  Digitizationhttp//www.library.ucsb.edu/ucpag/dig
  selec.html

UW Digital Collections Center
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University of WisconsinDigital Collections
CenterLSTA Digitization Grant Training Workshop
January 11, 2005

• Content Selection for Digitization Projects
• Vicki Tobias, Digital Services Librarian