matthew brack wellcome library presentation

Intro to Digitisation

Matthew Brack

Digitisation Project Manager

Wellcome Library

Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Some digitisation projects

http://eeb.chadwyck.com/

http://wellcomelibrary.org/moh/ http://bit.ly/1vSt8Ic

http://bit.ly/1x0bRAj

ProQuest Early Euopean Books

UK Medical Heritage Library

Reading Room / Pathways

Western Manuscripts 1000-1650

Forensics and Sex temporary

exhibitions

Some more digitisation projects

Nature of digitisation

Got general questions about digitisation?

The answer will always be: “It depends”

Simon Tanner, Measuring the Impact of Digital Resources: http://bit.ly/1nXeI7u

Strategy (“know your purpose”)

Project Management

SELECTION DIGITISATION DELIVERY

Institutional impact of digitisation

Why are we doing this?

What Big Media Can Learn From the New York Public Library: http://theatln.tc/1wF91NU

http://www.gutenberg.org/

JISC/RLUK survey: http://bit.ly/1wF9CiC

You won’t digitise everything…

“We’re going to digitise everything.”

Probably not.

Первый блин всегда комом

Project problems post-mortem:

Machinery issues

Retrieval across 30 collections, 4 floors, 2 buildings, 2 states

of access

Copyright clearance in parallel

12% of selection not found

Display issues

Imaging is the quickest step

BOOKS IN STACKS

IN SCOPE

NOTE

STAY ON SHELF

ONLINE CAT?

PRINT CAT?

NOTE GENE-RATE

SHELF LIST

DUPLI-CATE

CHECK

SINGLE SHELF LISTS

SORT BY

SIZE

CHECK OUT

CHECK OUT

CON ASS-ESS

UPDATE SHELF LIST

RETURN TO SHELF

DIGI-TISE

CONDI-TION?

REPAIR

BOX

TO CATALO-

GUE?

CATA-LOGUE

1.22 STORE

215B STACKS 1.22 STORAGE CONSERVATION CATALOGUING

NO

NO

YES

YES

LARGER

NO WAY

NOT OK

OK

FAIR

POOR

YES

1.22 STORE

NO

1.22 STORE

START

1a

1b

1c

1d

2

3

4

5

6

11

7

8

9

10

BOOKS IN STACKS

IN SCOPE

NOTE

STAY ON SHELF

ONLINE CAT?

PRINT CAT?

NOTE GENE-RATE

SHELF LIST

DUPLI-CATE

CHECK

SINGLE SHELF LISTS

SORT BY

SIZE

CHECK OUT

CHECK OUT

CON ASS-ESS

UPDATE SHELF LIST

RETURN TO SHELF

DIGI-TISE

CONDI-TION?

REPAIR

BOX

TO CATALO-

GUE?

CATA-LOGUE

1.22 STORE

215B STACKS 1.22 STORAGE CONSERVATION CATALOGUING

NO

NO

YES

YES

LARGER

NO WAY

NOT OK

OK

FAIR

POOR

YES

1.22 STORE

NO

1.22 STORE

START

1a

1b

1c

1d

2

3

4

5

6

11

7

8

9

10

1.21 DIADEIS

It’s a lot of small tasks, repeated

1. Generate unique ID

2. Create ‘scan list’

3. Create ‘review file’

4. Make unavailable to users

5. Create barcodes

6. Retrieve items

7. Insert barcodes

8. Deliver items for imaging

9. Update tracking list

[Re-work]

a. Returnb. Remove barcodesc. Update tracking listd. Make available to userse. Pray for no more re-workf. Repeat for next batch

Metadata is really important

• Metadata first, then digitisation – otherwise you don’t know what you have, where it is, or any way of controlling it…

• On average 50% of project time is spent on metadata and cataloguing

• Must be shaped by user need and what an organisation is capable of delivering

• Tension between low-volume digitisation with more metadata for a richer user experience or larger-scale digitisation with lighter metadata attached

• Standards-based framework helpful for consistency, accuracy and efficiency in metadata input (e.g. Dublin Core, MARC21)

• Digital objects ‘don’t exist’ without metadata – no search, no discovery

Copyright and IPR

http://creativecommons.org/

Bøkhylla project by the National Library of Norway: www.nb.no

Extended Collective Licensing: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111116890

Sensitivity assessment: http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2012/06/sensitivity-assessment-the-finer-points-of-archives-digitisation/

Does digi damage your stuff?

• Digitisation handles collections intensively in new ways

• Survey to develop image capture approach and identify out of scope material

• Survey detail depends on collection

• Training for photographers and digital preparators

• Actual preparation of materials (staples, openings)

• Digitisation is not preservation

• Most damage to collections comes from handling

Digitisation is not preservation

Communicating your collections

Useful resourcesTHORNTON, E. (2013) Digitisation Doctor Workshop. 15th April 2013. Available from: http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2013/05/resources-from-digitisation-doctor-workshop-now-available

HENSHAW, C. and KILEY, R. (2013) The Wellcome Library, Digital. Ariadne. July 2013. Available from: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue71/henshaw-kiley

JISC, Project Management for Digitisation, JISC Digital Media. Available from: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/project-management-for-a-digitisation-project

BRACK, M. (2012) Bridging the Gap: Library digital collections, innovation and the user. Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of King’s College London for the Degree of Masters in Digital Asset Management. Available from: http://nsla.org.au/publication/bridging-gap-library-digital-collections-innovation-and-user

Thanks

m.brack@wellcome.ac.uk

@WellcomeDigital

@MatthewBrack