VENDORS
Issues
of Importance
Information
in this section is taken from:
COLORADO DIGITIZATION PROJECT, GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SCANNING These standards
were developed by the Colorado Digitization Project Scanning Working Group,
Spring 1999:http://www.cdpheritage.org/resource/scanning/std_scanning.htm
Vendor Considerations:
In-house or Out-source?
Every organization should carefully consider the pros and cons of outsourcing
digitization projects or conducting them in-house. Following are some
points to consider for both strategies:
In-house pros:
In-house cons:
Outsourcing pros:
Outsourcing cons:
Sources Consulted
There are many excellent models and resources available in print and online
that have articulated different standards for scanning a variety of materials.
The Colorado Digitization Project drew upon the following resources in
developing these recommendations. We suggest that institutions review
the following resources for further information on scanning practices
and procedures prior to implementing a digitization project.
Additionally, we recommend Howard Besser's and Jennifer Trant's excellent online tutorial, "Introduction to Imaging" for a primer on the vocabulary and technology of an imaging project and the issues surrounding the construction an image database. This tutorial can be found at: http://www.getty.edu/gri/standard/introimages/
Digital Imaging Group (DIG) is a consortium of image and imaging companies
engaged in the development of digital imaging standards and technologies
for the consumer market. The membership of more than 80 participants include
Eastman Kodak, Digimarc, Fuji, and Polaroid. According to their white paper,
their metadata standards are based on XML formats and are designed to support
the evolution of digital imaging technology over the next 5-10 years. Because
of their near-future and consumer, home use, focus these standards are not
appropriate for libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies.
http://www.digitalimaging.org/
Options
to consider:
Depending upon the intended processing quality and volume, digitization
efforts can range from a $79 scanner and free capture software on a personal
computer to hundreds of thousands of dollars for professional imaging
equipment and reproduction processing.
Image capture
The capture of objects represent about thirty percent of digitization
expense (indexing is the other major cost). The principle choices are
on-site or central processing. Setting up capture equipment on-site is
best done for large collections to minimize movement and handling of originals.
If the collection at a site is small, transport to central services is
justified.
Most investments in
digitization tools are made for long-term efforts, whether as an enterprise
or for on-going conversion of large collections. The decision to acquire
equipment or contract for services is essentially based on the economics
of the process and the type of materials to be captured. Currently, a
rule of thumb is to consider spending $5 to $8 per original document or
photograph for contracted digitizing (including indexing) services. This
will usually produce several image files of staggered resolution / file
size copied onto mass storage devices or medium.
Reproduction or hosting services
At its simplest, digital files can be loaded onto hard drives in local
servers for local use. For example, a collection of homestead photographs
can be kept at the local library for viewing on a computer screen. Storage
and retrieval is supported in the building. For a larger audience, the
files can be accessible as pages off the library's Web page.
Web hosting of
collection
A central service facility, such as a regional or state organization can
host files on a Web server with worldwide access. Since CDs are often
used as a storage medium, it is possible to produce additional copies
for individual distribution. Labeled CDs can be sold or distributed freely
to increase public exposure to the collection. Paper reproductions of
graphical images can also be produced; however, copyright issues may be
involved.
Several options exist for hosting digitized material. Internet service providers host Web pages including small collections of files. On a larger scale, commercial Internet services are available to host significant collections, albeit at a fairly high storage charge. The typical sites for hosting digital collections have been academic, governmental and community organizational servers (e.g., societies, associations). Using a rough guide of .5 Mb file size for each object, it is apparent that only serious storage systems can handle collections of thousands of objects.
Regardless of the use of in-house or contracted services, the organization will need oversight and management capacity during the capture of objects and during the program management phase following the project. The use of steering and stakeholder committees is advised. If the digitization process will be conducted in-house, technical resources as well as object handlers / preparers are required.
