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Digitise my Collection
Digitisation projects enable libraries, archives and museums to make their collections more accessible by providing ‘virtual collections' online via the creation of high-quality digital copies of objects.
“Implementation is the most important aspect of a digitisation project,” says Karla Youngs, director of the Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI). “Guidance and training help you make the connection between the aims of a project and the guidelines and expectations of the people who are funding the work.
“Quality is such an important issue. Because of the expenditure involved or a lack of suitably skilled personnel, some museums employ an outside digitisation bureau to carry out the work. They have to be certain that the results will be good enough for their purposes.” - Read the full article
Getting Started
What is 'digitisation'? Technically, it is the process of converting information from a physical format into a digital one. There are two basic kinds of digitisation:
- Image capture (eg. using a camera, scanner or other capture device)
- Information capture (eg. scanning a document to create electronic text)
It is important to remember that digitisation of cultural material is likely to involve a combination of these approaches.
Why Digitise?
Why do we want to digitise at all? Digitisation is an expensive and relatively complex business, but it can also deliver significant benefits for your organisation.
Think Digital
Think Digital is a new Resource Pack on Digitisation produced by Museums, Libraries and Archives East of England. The pack costs £20 and includes a DVD , CD-Rom and introductory booklet. The DVD features extensive interviews with people who have direct experience of running digitisation projects.
UKOLN Good Practice Guide
UKOLN publish the Good Practice Guide for Developers of Cultural Heritage Web Services as an authoritative source of information and guidance on every aspect of the digitisation life-cycle. Sections covered by the Guide include:
- Management Processes
- Handling and Delivering Digital Resources
- Websites
- Digital Curation
- Publicity and Marketing
The guide is completely free to use and is an essential reference for anyone considering digitising their collection. Sections are referenced wherever relevant throughout Collections Link.
(Note: the Good Practice Guide is derived from and now replaces the NOF-Digitise Technical Standards)
Implementing Digitisation
Once you have decided to undertake a digitisation project, there are a number of factors you will need to consider, including copyright, project management and sustainability.
Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI)
TASI, the Technical Advisory Service for Images has a comprehenive website containing advice on all aspects of digitization. It also has a help desk. Email the TASI help desk or telephone 0117 928 7091.
Basic fact sheets
© All material on Collections Link, copyright MDA and other National Organisations 2006, all rights reserved
