conservation for digitisation
DESCRIPTION
Presented at our Digitisation Doctor workshop on 15 April 2013.TRANSCRIPT
Conservation for Digitisation
Gillian Boal
Head of Conservation
and Collections Care
Matthew Brack
Digitisation Project Manager
Digitisation Doctor workshop, 15 April 2013
The nature of digitisation
Conservation for Digitisation
Where physical and digital collections meet
Conservation for Digitisation
When you do digi you tend to come across a couple types of people:
1. Those with an understanding of digital collections and their corresponding management systems.
2. Those who understand physical objects and collections management.
It’s very important that you strive for an appreciation of both digital and physical collections and understand how they interact in order to execute a good digi project.
The nature of digitisation
Conservation for Digitisation
Digitisation = variables
Conservation for Digitisation
• With conservation, like every other part of the digi workflow, there is no one way of doing things.
• Every project will be different and small projects don’t equate to simple projects.
• There are no simple projects and project size is simply an indication of project duration and never ease of execution.
‘Bench’ vs. ‘Digi’ conservation
Conservation is one part of a project workflow….
Conservation for Digitisation
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
‘Bench’ vs. ‘Digi’ conservation
Conservation for Digitisation
Traditionally, conservation has had different disciplines: paper, paintings, objects and so on. Digi conservation may be a new one, with its many differing approaches.
As part of a project workflow, even a basic understanding of project management will be your best friend. Additionally:
1. Volume of materials goes up.
2. Amount of time to spend on them goes down.
3. Number of stakeholders increases, many of whom won’t know about conservation.
Conservation for Digitisation
CATALOGUE
RETRIEVAL
CONSERVATION FINAL PREP
CAPTURE
SYSTEMS
Wider responsibility for collections care
• Responsibility will need to be extended to those without conservation training
• Digital Preparators and Imaging Technicians will spend more time with objects than anyone else
• You don’t need a skilled conservation resource
• Establish sensible guidelines
• Your main concern is handling
Wellcome Digital Library Programme
Risk assessment
Conservation for Digitisation
• Some of the traditional conservation approaches to assessing risk for objects can be counterproductive for digitisation – following them strictly will stall your project.
• A good starting point is a universal risk assessment framework, simple questions that quickly give you a grasp of risk to your objects within a digi project.
• Our bottom line: no loss of information from the object.
Example questions (from Digital Preservation Coalition):
Identify a risk ... What is it’s likelihood?What is it’s impact? Risk Score: L x IHow frequently does the risk occur? How often do we need to check?Who owns the risk? How will we respond to the risk?How does our response change likelihood and impact?
Conservation Digital Preparation
Conservation for Digitisation
Digi preparation at Wellcome Library
Conservation for Digitisation
• Conservation staff have been contributing to digital projects since 2009.
• Digital preparation is mostly stabilisation and includes: the removal of staples, sleeving of material that is vulnerable and brittle, humidification, flattening, repair and sometimes disbinding.
• We have worked with both our Digital Preparators and our photographic staff to help facilitate careful handling of items during the digitisation process.
• Loss from manipulation is sometimes unavoidable. All components are retained so as to have no loss of information. This can be done by placing these pieces in mylar ‘L’ sleeves or envelopes and documenting their original location. Digital Preparators keep all loose parts together so that they can be reattached after digitisation and flagged so that conservation can repair after digitisation.
Conservation for Digitisation
Example of an archive letter that needs stabilisation, carried out by Digital Preparators or Imaging Technicians
Question: What is going to happen to the original physical item?
Conservation for Digitisation
• A Collections Care approach needs to know what will happen to the original after digitisation.
• Here at the Wellcome we digitise and return items to the stores on-site or to off-site storage – we are keeping physical items as the technology is still not proven long term.
• Occasionally we won’t retain the original: we have numerous copies of our collection catalogues and after digitising we will only retain one hard copy.
• Sometimes we might undo original library bindings that are falling apart. Smaller groups of material can be easier to retrieve, use and digitise when separated.
• The fact that a bookbinding might have fallen apart can be a good thing and make it easier to image. The broken binding can allow the imaging process easier access to the gutter
Wellcome Digital Library Programme
Condition Surveys• Are materials catalogued or uncatalogued? You can’t do a general
condition survey without a descriptive framework. Materials must be catalogued before digitisation.
• In archives there are several groups of material housed together – brittle paper, photographs, books, documents and letters. An initial random visual inspection survey can highlight issues for Image Technicians or Digital Preparators.
• When working in partnership with other institutions there is a dual responsibility of care. When loaning items there has to be some acceptance of wear and tear from handling during image capture of an item.
• The loan of materials has to be fully documented, usually as a tick box survey that describes the condition of the item, as it takes too much time to fill out a more standard detailed report.
Conservation for Digitisation
Case Study
Eugenics Scrapbooks – overlaid newspaper cuttings
Conservation for Digitisation
The adhered newspaper cuttings overlap each other and so need to be folded back to be fully digitised. They are held using a flexible Plastazote stick.
Conservation for DigitisationUsing this technique there is no creasing of the newspaper.
Case Study
Large format works
Conservation for Digitisation
Conservation for Digitisation
In this example 30 cm folded becomes 130 cm laid out.
Technicians need to have safe ways to support these extended items, opening out and folding back again into their original folds.
Case Study
Modern journals
Conservation for Digitisation
Modern cloth case bindings ought to be straightforward to digitise. But on inspection the binding style is oversewn, a common practice for journal bindings that restricts the opening and image access to the print in the gutter.
These might be an example of the need for disbinding preparation and boxing after digitising.
Conservation for Digitisation
Ironically older material is often easier to digitise because the chemistry of the materials is sound – 19th and 20th century material can be brittle which makes it more difficult to handle without damage.
Case Study
3D objects
Conservation for Digitisation
All practitioners need to work together to establish guidelines of all aspects of the digital practice.
Arrange handling training for all of those involved and understand how to ensure the best care for physical collections during the process.