doing projects: 10 laws of digitisation
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Digitisation Project Manager Matthew Brack on things to think about when doing digitisation projects, for our fourth Digitisation Open Day.TRANSCRIPT
Digitisation Open DayDoing Projects
30 January 2014
Matthew Brack
Digitisation Project Manager
10 ‘laws’ of digitisation
Wellcome Digital Library Programme
These are personal views based on experience of doing digitisation at Wellcome Library…
#1: Know your purpose
(“Thou shalt observe real users and keep them holy”)
Obvious but important: who are you doing digitisation for? Knowing the answer to that question will affect every subsequent decision you make in your project.
Digitisation Open Day
SELECTION DIGITISATION DELIVERY
You need to ensure that this common purpose is shared by all project stakeholders and is a thread running through the whole process from the very beginning to the end.
#2: Know Project Management
If you’ve never run a digitisation project before and only do one thing to prepare: study project management. Your project is more likely to succeed with an understanding of project management than a technical understanding of digitisation.
The nature of digitisation
Digitisation Open Day
Digitisation Open Day
METADATA
RETRIEVAL
CONSERVATION FINAL PREP
CAPTURE
SYSTEMS
#3: There is no ‘best practice’
We can tell you how we created our digital library, but it’s unlikely that anyone is going to be able to leave today and, even with a blank check, put that into practice to solve their particular problems – there are too many variables.
Digitisation Doctor in a slide
Got general questions about digitisation?
Digitisation Open Day
The answer will always be: “It depends”
#4: There are no simple projects
(especially at the beginning)
Digitisation Open Day
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
#5: Imaging is the quickest step
The imaging step is dwarfed by preceding preparation and subsequent digital asset management processes, yet it’s the most visible aspect of any digitisation project.
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
Imaging step within a preparation workflow
#6: Metadata is really important
(see Dave Thompson’s presentation)
Lacking good metadata is an existential threat to your project – without it your digital content will simply disappear and never be seen by users.
Metadata
• Digital objects ‘don’t exist’ without metadata – no search, no discovery
Digitisation Open Day
• 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)
Digitisation Open Day
Metadata examples
#7: It’s lots of small tasks
(repeated over and over…)
Tracking and retrieval
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]
Digitisation Open Day
a. Returnb. Remove barcodesc. Update tracking listd. Make available to userse. Pray for no more re-workf. Repeat for next batch
#8: Digi can damage your stuff
(but not as much as you’d think)
Conservation
• Most damage to collections comes from handling
Digitisation Open Day
• 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
#9: Digitisation is not preservation
This should not be a guiding principle of your project:
Generally your original physical material is going to last much longer than your digital manifestation – no competition.
You’ve just created a second collection of material that you need to ‘preserve’ and manage.
Preservation doesn’t mean much in a digital context – it’s actually a contradiction from traditional usage, which succeeds by restricting access – what we are interested in is sustainable access.
#10: Copyright + sensitivity = workflow
Copyright and sensitivity
• UK copyright law is lagging behind the needs of today’s economy
Digitisation Open Day
• UK copyright is held by the creator and not the owner of a work, making a rights risk assessment essential for most projects
• Rights clearance of works on an item-by-item basis is unworkable in the context of mass digitisation
• Small organisations without legal support are unlikely to take the risk of digitising orphan works, or anything else that carries potential copyright risk
ProQuest EEB Project Overview
Project Scope:
14,000 books
5.5 million images
Incunabula to 1700
Printed outside UK
Access in UK and HINARI – 15
years3600 books now online: http://eeb.chadwyck.com
Digitisation Open Day
Phase 2 projects
Digitisation Open Day
Reading Room / Project X
Western Manuscripts 1000-1650
Forensics and Sex temporary
exhibitions
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
Digitisation Open Day