The NMRLS Digital Initiative & the Northeast Massachusetts Digital Library
NMRLS Digitizing Checklist
9 Easy steps!
NMRLS Contacts for Digitization:
Scott Kehoe, Consultant – scott@nmrls.org / 888-326-7772
Greg Pronevitz, Regional Administrator – greg@nmrls.org / 888-326-7772
This handout is available for download in PDF format, click here.
1. Has it already been digitized???
Search the following to be sure you’re the first to digitize your material.
¨ Google – www.google.com
¨ Yahoo! – www.yahoo.com
¨ OAIster.org - www.oaister.org
¨ OCLC WorldCat - http://www.nmrls.org/reference/dbases.shtml#oclc
¨ Library of Congress American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/
¨ Cyndi’s List genealogical site - http://www.cyndislist.com/
¨
Roots Web
2. Do you have the right to display and publish this information online?
Be sure you have the copyright or that the material in the public domain before you spend time and money of digitizing material. Document your efforts in writing to determine copyright. This is not only good record-keeping, but a good faith effort on your part will benefit your institution in any legal challenges.
¨ Get the
basics on
¨ Check Public Domain status of your item. A good basic online chart is at (also listed in previous above): http://www.unc.edu/%7Eunclng/public-d.htm
¨ Have a contingency plan ready if your material is challenged by a copyright holder or someone who may claim to have rights to the works on display. This contingency plan may be as simple as taking the material in question off-line.
3. Cataloging! Organize your materials! You need as many access points as you can provide so your audience can find this exciting new material!
¨ Is the material catalogued or indexed in some way: call nos.; accession nos.; titles; captions?
¨ Is metadata available in an electronic format: MARC; Dublin Core; XML; Access; Excel?
4. Got Funding?
If so, that’s great, you’re on your way!
If not, a good source is the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). They provide digitization grants through the Federally funded LSTA program. Go to the MBLC website for more information on deadlines and application procedures for LSTA grants: http://mblc.state.ma.us/grants/lsta/index.php
5. Where will your digital images live online?
¨ Do you plan to have these images available through an existing digital library site or create your own on-line digital library?
¨ Have you
investigated joining a the state-wide
¨ Does your funding include money for uploading and upkeep of your online images? This may include an annual fee to a vendor or hosting site, or if hosting yourself, servers, band-width and ISP fees.
¨ What will be your digital access management (DAM) software? Whether you are hosting it yourself, or using a vendor or consortia to host your images, you need to know what that software is, how you can access your images for updates/corrections and in what format your metadata will be (MARC, Dublin Core, etc.).
6. Find a Vendor. NMRLS highly recommends finding a vendor to scan and process metadata for all but the smallest projects. NMRLS, the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) and NELINET is happy to assist in this process, contact information is listed below:
NMRLS: Scott Kehoe, Consultant – scott@nmrls.org / 978-762-4433 x16
MBLC: Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, Preservation Specialist - gregor.trinkaus-randall@state.ma.us / 800 952-7403 x236
NELINET: Ed Sperr, Digital Services - sperr@nelinet.net / 1-800-635-4638 x1931
7. Prepare Digitizing specifications and standards for vendor
NMRLS Digital scanning standards are on-line at: http://www.nmrls.org/nmdl/standards.shtml
¨ Put standards and specifications in writing for yourself and your vendor. Make these standards part of your contract with your vendor.
¨ Determine whether scanning will be done on-site at your institution or at the vendor’s facility (calculate any additional shipping and insurance fees)
¨ Determine storage media for scanned material and metadata (CD, DVD, server with tape back-up)
¨ determine scanning standards to for your project, examples below:
|
Material to be scanned: ¨ Capture resolution (dpi) ¨ Image file-type (TIFF, JPEG, JPEG2000) |
Images online: ¨ Display resolution (pixels) ¨ Image file size (kilobytes) ¨ Image file-type (JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG) ¨
Watermarking and/or
banding, indicating copyright owner ¨ Image “clean-up,” boosting contrast and/or color saturation, repairing scratches |
8. Assign a Project Manger
You need someone to oversee the process from start to finish. This person should have the authority to make final decisions when the need arises (and the unexpected always occurs!). It is also essential that there be a “point man” to work with your vendor and that the vendor know who this is and that your Project Manager has authority to make decisions.
¨ Project Manager will be:____________________
9. Publicize it!
If you don’t want people to use this material, then do not digitized it. If it’s on the internet people will find it!
¨ Will your project be indexed by Google, Yahoo! and other search engines?
¨ Publicity campaign: local newspaper, cable-access TV, library newsletter, flyers, library programs on genealogy, library website, etc., etc.
Updated: 10/23/07 / Scott Kehoe, Consultant / mailto:mscott@nmrls.org / 1-888-326-7772