Managing Digitization Activities · 11 Executive Summary Introduction Increasingly, academic and research libraries are becoming involved in reformatting materials from their collections to create digital content and are providing access to that content through metadata. As the management of digital projects and initia- tives is a relatively new endeavor for most librar- ies, there is a significant impact on libraries’ bud- gets, organizational structures, and staffing. Digitization activities require different models for funding, collection development (to provide broad access to otherwise inaccessible materials), acquisitions (the material being digitized is already part of the collection), cataloging (metadata stan- dards may differ depending on the material be- ing digitized), preservation (migration of formats between software platforms and file formats is critical), and systems office support (for a suite of software instead of just the integrated library sys- tem). Staff skill sets are different, as are supporting equipment and computer hardware and software. This SPEC survey was designed to identify the purposes of ARL member libraries’ digitization ef- forts, the organizational structures these libraries use to manage digital initiatives, whether and how staff have been reassigned to support digitization activities, where funding to sustain digital activi- ties originated and how that funding is allocated, how priorities are determined, whether libraries are outsourcing any digitization work, and how the success of libraries’ digital activities has been assessed. The focus of the survey was on the digiti- zation of existing library materials, rather than the creation of born-digital objects. Background on Digitization Activities This survey was distributed to the 123 ARL mem- ber libraries in February 2006. Sixty-eight libraries (55%) responded to the survey, of which all but two (97%) reported having engaged in digitization ac- tivities. Only one respondent reported having be- gun digitization activities prior to 1992 five other pioneers followed in 1992. From 1994 through 1998 there was a steady increase in the number of librar- ies beginning digital initiatives 30 joined the pio- neers at the rate of three to six a year. There was a spike of activity at the turn of the millennium that reached a high in 2000, when nine libraries began digital projects. Subsequently, new start-ups have slowed, with only an additional one to five librar- ies beginning digitization activities each year. The primary factor that influenced the start up of digitization activities was the availability of grant funding (39 responses or 59%). Other factors that influenced the commencement of these ac- tivities were the addition of new staff with related skills (50%), staff receiving training (44%), the de- cision to use digitization as a preservation option (42%), and the availability of gift monies (29%). An additional factor that motivated many survey respondents was the need to improve access to li- brary resources. Others commented that participat-
