Managing Digitization Activities · 141
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Selecting Traditional Library Materials for
Digitization
Report of the CUL Task Force on Digitization
I. Introduction
In April 2004 a Task Force on Digitization was charged to recommend a policy for selecting traditional library materials for digitization.
Providing increased access to digital information resources has occupied a prominent place in Library planning documents for some time.
The Task Force approached its charge as part of this ongoing program (see, for example, CUL Goals and Objectives 2002-2007 I.3B, “select
materials for digitization” and the Selection and Content section of the Report of the Digital Preservation Policy Working Group
www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/IMLS/image_deposit_guidelines.pdf ).This report offers rationale and strategies for deciding which
materials the Library should digitize, and in what order it should digitize them.
II. Charge
The Task Force on Digitization was asked to:
Create a set of guidelines for evaluating the content of “traditional” (defined as ink-on-paper) materials as candidates for digitization,
holding copyright in abeyance.
Consider whether the essence of these guidelines could be encapsulated in a form that would allow their application without
significant (professional) selector intervention.
Consider the fate of the paper originals. Are there categories of documents that may safely be withdrawn from library shelves after
they are digitized?
Make recommendations, in the form of a prioritized list, as to which criteria CUL should make a conscious and coordinated effort
to emphasize.
III. Assumptions
The following assumptions and definitions guided our work:
What is content? Content is information in context. It includes all of what is intrinsic in a document—its ideas, organization, and
physical presentation.
Why digitize? For the purpose of this report, digitization is a tool for increasing access to information we do not address the
important issues of digital preservation.
Why select? In addition to the inevitably finite nature of resources, which dictates setting priorities, some print materials may be
unsuitable for digitization because of their format, condition, or other characteristics.
Why preserve originals? Library digitization must not sacrifice historically significant materials nor deny researchers the ability to study
ways in which information was originally presented.
What technologies will be used to digitize? Digitization will be accomplished with the use of multiple scanning and photographic
technologies. These evolving technologies will minimize, but not necessarily eliminate, destruction of originals.
Why exclude copyright? The focus of this report is digitization based upon content. Legal (and technical) issues can then be considered
as a second step in the selection process.
IV. Selection Criteria
Selection for digitization requires many of the same evaluative deliberations that guide traditional collection development decisions. The
selection of published materials for the stacks, or of paper materials for preservation microfilming, for example, require an assessment of
value, utility, demand, condition, and collection relevance. The Task Force concluded that these same criteria should drive selection of
traditional materials for digitization at Cornell. These values are well reflected in Cornell University Library’s Goals and Objectives 2002-
2007 I.3B: “select materials for digitization on the basis of their potential for broad utility, unique value of materials converted, reflection of
core strengths of Cornell’s holdings, and opportunities for building distinctive aggregations through national and international
collaborations…”
At the same time, however, we were charged to develop guidelines for implementing digitization without this deliberative process in place, i.e.
without professional selector intervention. Hence our selection criteria recommendations are presented below in two different sections:
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