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Selection Considerations

For Digital Imaging Projects

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Session Goal

Workshop participants will be able to develop a strategy for choosing special

collections for digitization.

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Session Objectives Overview selection issues for digitization

projects Discuss questions involved in selection

special collections for digitization Review Trivia results Pair Exercise

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Learner Outcomes Be able to Identify & Discuss selection issues

for digitization as they relate to your institution’s special collections

Understand the process involved in selecting special collections for digitization

By the end of the session, be able to develop a strategy for assigning IT, staff, and resources for selection of special collections materials

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Selection Questions for Digital Imaging projects

What should we digitize?• Value considerations

What can we digitize?• Technical considerations• Cost considerations

What may we digitize?• Legal constraints

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A Closer Look: Issue # 1 What should we digitize?

Value considerations• Will digital collection building constitute a “critical mass”

of available materials on a particular subject matter?• Does the digital project represent a duplication of effort?• Determining the intended use of the digital material prior to

scanning is critical to choosing the right materials for your digital project.

• Digitization as a alternative to continued use may help address preservation concerns that your institution has for the originals.

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How does this initiative address… Whether digital collection-building constitutes

a critical mass of available materials on the history and founding of the HBCU?• By recognizing that no single repository exists, analog or

digital, which contains a “critical mass” of historical documents by or about HBCU’s.

Whether this project represents a duplication of effort? • By recognizing that while some of the images, which are

represented in the online collection may exist elsewhere the level of duplication in no way diminishes the need for scanning these resources.

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How does this initiative address… Issues of determining the intended use of the

digital collection?• You understand that the purpose of your institutions’

involvement in this initiative is to share the history of the HBCU with the world and to promote access to and use of HBCU digital collections. The target audience for this collection is scholars, students, researchers, local community of users, etc.

Preservation issues? • We recognize that continued use of HBCU historical or

founding materials will contribute to the deterioration of those materials, therefore we see digitization as one short-term preservation strategy.

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How does this initiative address… Increased value added by digitization?

One way we will increase value of the original is by creating searchable text files for printed text documents we will enhance searchability of the original document and create metadata that did not exist before digitization.

Is there an active, current demand for the materials? Digitization can enable ease of use and access and

reduce handling of fragile/rare originals.

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What is the goal of selection?

Develop a shared collection of historical documents that pertain to the founding

of the HBCU.

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Who is the audience for the digital collection?

Scholars and students of Education, the American South, American Democracy, American Studies, African American Studies, Cultural Pluralism, and related disciplines; local community and constituents.

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A Closer Look: Issue # 2 What can we digitize?

Technological considerations• What features of the original do we want to

capture? Can we do this relatively easily?• In what condition is the original? Does it need

special handling?• Photographs: flattening, repair• Books: skew from scanning?

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A Closer Look: Issue # 2 What can we digitize?

Technological considerations, cont.• Inadequate current access• Increased value added by digitization

• Improved searching• Enhanced legibility and audibility

• go beyond the original object• Should we?

• It is important to have a technical infrastructure that supports the management, delivery, and maintenance of digitized materials over time.

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How does this initiative address… Technical infrastructure?

• The grant project provides funding for the purchase of a computer workstation, scanner, software, training, materials, and hiring a scanning technician. These components are integral to establishing and maintaining a digitization workflow and are the basis for continued project development over time.

Physical characteristics & details? • We recognize that the documents which you will scan are

similar in their (some fragile or old) and that they all have details that can be captured in digital format using our benchmarks.

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How does this initiative address… Inadequate current access?

• This project assumes that access to these historical resources is severely limited and that they may only be used locally and through digitization they can be used by a wide variety of scholars, students, and researchers.

In what condition is the original? • By assisting you understand the physical

characteristics that would not make certain materials suitable for capture on a flat-bed scanner.

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A Closer Look: Issue # 2, cont. What can we digitize?

What are the costs associated with digitization? Can we afford it?• Digitization may increase use which may require

additional resources such as staff time.• Technological and legal considerations are both

influenced by costs.

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How does this initiative address… The costs involved in digitization?

• We understand that while scanning and start-up costs are addressed in the initiative, many of the costs associated with the introduction of additional staff into the workflow or backup and storage costs are not covered by the grant project.

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A Closer Look: Issue # 3 What may we digitize?

Permissions How to determine ownership Materials dated after 1923 Section 108 of U.S. Copyright Law

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How does this initiative address… What we may digitize?

• By using copyright charts and soliciting expert advice to select candidates for digitization that are owned by your institution.

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Selection TriviaResults

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Pair ExerciseDeveloping a strategy for selection What should you digitize?

• Who will you involve in selection?• Where are these materials housed?• How are the materials organized?• Is there available documentation (metadata)?

What can you digitize?• What is the physical condition of the material you want to digitize?• Do you have the appropriate computer/scanner to capture significant

details of photographs and text/line art? What may you digitize?

• Do you have permission to digitize the materials?• If not, then how will you obtain permission?