Planning for Digitization

Public Library Partnership Project

Jennifer Birnel, Montana Memory Project Digital Public Library of America

September 2015

You have considered creating a digital collection but…

How do I begin?

Is it worth the time and effort?

How do I convince my administrators of the importance?

What about the cost of resources – equipment and people?

What is digitization?

It is a process.

1. Selection2. Cataloging3. Reformatting4. Sharing

Access and Discovery

Contribute to the local, state, regional, and national historical record about people, places, and events.

Improve accessibility to special collections.

Preservation

Protects rare content Increase usability of materials otherwise inaccessible due to condition

Institutional Web Presence

Increase visibility of institution and collections.

Improve traffic to your online resources and your website.

Partnerships

Combine resources in your local community

Partners improve your reach

Partners share knowledge & learn

Image courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection via Digital Commonwealth.

One piece of a whole

5 Tips for Getting Started with a Digitization Project

Tip 1: Where?

Decide where the content will live.Can a partner host it for you?Can you host it locally?Do you need to purchase space?

Tip 2: When?Know your timeline.

Do you have a deadline?When can you begin?How long will it take?Will you have help?

Tip 3: How?Consider the staff & resources required.

Will partners help with the work? Is there a DPLA hub in your state?Will you use a vendor for any of the work?Do you need to purchase equipment?

Tip 4: Why?

Be ready to explain why it is important to create digital collections.Access Discover Use

Tip 5: What?Select the items you will digitize.

See the Selecting Content module in this curriculum for more information.