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C-SPAN and Kelsey 4ever<\/p><\/div>\n
Hopefully our return hasn\u2019t set your head spinning.\u00a0 Amanda Brent, processor extraordinaire, walked you through the lengthy course of processing all of the hundreds of boxes of C-SPAN material in 2017.\u00a0 I am here to walk you through the next stage: digitization.<\/p>\n
Now, for many people, digitization conjures up images of a lone person sitting in a dark room, slowly moving a paper from the \u201cto do\u201d pile, to the scanner, to the \u201cdone\u201d pile.\u00a0 While that is part of the process, it really just scratches the surface of all of the work that goes in to digitizing archival records.\u00a0 In fact, the actual scanning is approximately a third of the work involved in digitization.<\/p>\n
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Boromir gets it.<\/p><\/div>\n
Before beginning any digitization project, there is a LOT of prep work to do.\u00a0 My first step was to get to know the records!\u00a0 This is no easy task\u2014post-processing, the C-SPAN collection comprises 469 boxes filled with paper records, photographs, film negatives, audiotapes, videotapes, hand-drawn illustrations, and more! As I started going through these records, I was trying to get a sense of the breadth of the content, its organization, the physical condition of the material, the extent of protected information, as well as just generally what seems interesting!\u00a0 This involved many days of me sitting in the climate-controlled stacks room, just going through boxes one at a time, taking notes on what I found.\u00a0 I also needed to get material counts of a sample of boxes so that I could loosely estimate exactly how much there was to digitize.\u00a0 I took a 10% sample (keep in mind, that\u2019s more than 40 boxes) and counted the items within them, calculating at the end that there were, on average, 766 documents per box.\u00a0 Oof!<\/p>\n
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Sample of my notes<\/p><\/div>\n
The next step was to run some tests.\u00a0 In the SCRC, the digitization work is done on flatbed scanners, which makes the digitization project lengthy.\u00a0 As I tested how long it would take me to digitize a single box of material, I quickly learned that we needed to speed up the process significantly.\u00a0 This formed the next step of the process\u2014equipment upgrades.\u00a0 Now, for a small sidebar.<\/p>\n
*SIDEBAR<\/strong>* Document scanning is done in different ways, but for archival digitization, there are specific requirements to fulfill.\u00a0 Because these documents are more fragile, you cannot stick them in a sheet feeder (they might jam, and there goes your unique, historic document!), you can\u2019t expose them to too much heat (they can fade or become more brittle or straight up burn!), and you can\u2019t put too much pressure on them (they can actually break!)\u00a0 Flatbed scanners have been a go-to for digitization in a bunch of places, from your grandma scanning old family photos, to your insurance agent sending you policy documents, to your local archives offering digital copies of original records.\u00a0 The reasoning here is that flatbed scanners are easy to use, inexpensive to purchase, and produce a quality image. They are generally safe for archival digitization because they are a low-heat, low-pressure, single-sheet solution.\u00a0 However, flatbed scanners have drawbacks: they are relatively slow (and sometimes need breaks to keep from overheating), they can only digitize flat records (don\u2019t press down on old book binding!), and the quality, while fairly good, has its limits.\u00a0 As a result of these drawbacks, many institutions (university libraries, archives, museums, etc.) have switched to a new method: digital cameras.\u00a0 On a digital camera, a technician can get a high-quality image in the space of a second, and you can capture more than just flat material without applying unsafe pressure.\u00a0 The downside? They are more expensive (but getting cheaper) and require a lot of setup.\u00a0 For professional mass digitization, you don\u2019t want to just stand there and shoot picture after picture like you do on your phone.\u00a0 You have to make sure the documents are properly lit (with cool lights that don\u2019t radiate heat), the camera is stationary and level, the page is appropriately framed, the color is accurate, and you have to make it consistent.\u00a0 That calls for a copystand!<\/p>\n An example of a large copystand–the camera isn’t visible, but it’s there!<\/p><\/div>\n A copystand is essentially a camera mounted to a tall arm so that it shoots directly down at a document on a flat, nonreflective surface.\u00a0 The document is lit by LED or CFL bulbs arranged at angles to avoid glares.\u00a0 Sounds easy, right? Well, it can be, but we needed a BIG ONE, so we could fit records of all kinds and sizes on it.\u00a0 So my next task was to figure out how to get one of those!\u00a0 It took a lot of research, too many sales phone calls, and a whole lot of persuasion, but finally, the order was in! Now, back to getting the materials ready to go. *SIDEBAR OVER<\/strong>*<\/p>\n Given the number of documents and the time available, it was clear that digitizing the entire collection was not possible, so my next task was to use my notes from my initial perusing to prioritize what I thought should be digitized.\u00a0 I zeroed in on a few series which struck me as informative, interesting, and illustrative.\u00a0 Now, with the box number whittled down, I had another big task before we could move to the actual \u201cpaper to computer\u201d phase.<\/p>\n That big task? METADATA.\u00a0 For those unfamiliar with the term, here\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> a description from the National Archives. Want a shorter summary? Metadata is basically information related to an object or document or file.\u00a0 Searching for an item in your library catalog? Metadata helps you find it.\u00a0 Looking for a song on Spotify? You\u2019re searching metadata.\u00a0 Trying to find that unflattering photo of yourself that grandma recently scanned in?<\/p>\n Why, Grandma?<\/p><\/div>\n Oof, better hope you have some metadata (or you\u2019re in for a lot of random clicking)!\u00a0 Metadata can mean anything from title or author to file size or date modified.\u00a0 For an archival record, you might want to collect metadata on who the author is, when it was written, what the subject is, when it was digitized, what file format it\u2019s now in, and so on.\u00a0 Of course, you have to be selective about what you need\u2014you don\u2019t want to give yourself 50 boxes to fill in for every item!\u00a0 Luckily, there are some guidelines to help identify what metadata is useful.\u00a0 For C-SPAN, we identified several elements we wanted, including title, description, date, location, and others.\u00a0 For our own purposes, we\u2019ll also collect data on the digitization process.<\/p>\n Now we\u2019re done, right? Ready to scan?\u00a0 Almost!\u00a0 We still have to outline the workflow, physically prepare the records (remove staples, smooth out folds, etc.), set up rules about file naming, and determine storage structure.\u00a0 For some records, we\u2019ll also collect preliminary metadata before it even goes to the camera! We definitely have more work ahead!\u00a0 But more on that later\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fascinated and want to learn more? Here you go!<\/p>\n Why don\u2019t archivists digitize everything?<\/p>\n https:\/\/peelarchivesblog.com\/2017\/05\/31\/why-dont-archivists-digitize-everything\/<\/a><\/p>\n More on copystands<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/copystand.jpg?resize=722%2C481&ssl=1\")
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