We are excited to share the first article in our “Digitization 101” series, which aims to answer questions that the archival team receives regularly about digitizing and providing online access to historical records. We’re kicking off the series with an overview of digitization – what it is, why we do it, and why we sometimes choose not to do it.
The Disciples of Christ Historical Society staff has the privilege of stewarding approximately 14,000 linear feet of collection materials – historical documents and records, photographs and films, books and artifacts, and periodicals and pamphlets that document generations of shifting paradigms, mission, and ministry within the Stone-Campbell movement. Walk the stacks of our Allen Family Archival Preservation Wing, and you will find history you can hold. Rows upon rows of high-density shelving store tangible, storied treasures all within reach and, quite literally, at your fingertips.
When we talk with donors of historical materials and researchers interested in our holdings, one question comes up time and time again: When will the Historical Society’s collections be digitized? We understand why the question arises. People, including ourselves, spend a lot of time online because of the convenience and gratification that digital content and systems offer us. Increasingly, it is understandable, if not altogether necessary, to transform things firmly rooted in a tangible, physical reality into binary code composed of 0s and 1s. This includes the historical record.
The ease of consuming digital and digitized media belies the complexity of creating and maintaining the digital files and ecosystem they require. Although a ubiquitous term, “digitization” remains, at best, only partially understood by external stakeholders across libraries, archives, museums, and other collecting institutions, such as the Historical Society. This article will cover some basics of digitization – what it is, why it is done, and why collecting institutions do not digitize all of their holdings.
What Is Digitization?
The Society of American Archivists (SAA), the largest archival professional association in North America, succinctly defines the word “digitize” as follows: to transform analog information into digital form. Digitization is a reformatting process; the result of digitization is simply a digital file.
Although many consider “digitization” to be synonymous with “scanning,” it is not limited to that. Because scanning is, in essence, digital photocopying, it is obviously inadequate for digitizing analog electronic media. Magnetic media (open-reel audio tapes, audiocassettes, videotapes, videocassettes), phonographic discs, and films require specialized digitization equipment and subject expertise in the intricacies of electronic analog formats. The majority of collecting institutions perform some or all of their own scanning but outsource all digitization of analog electronic media to specialized vendors.
Why Do Collecting Institutions Digitize?
Digitization serves two distinct but intertwined goals for libraries, archives, and museums: access and preservation.
Since the emergence of the World Wide Web in the 1990s, librarians, archivists, and museum curators have digitized collection materials to remove barriers to accessing them. Access remains the primary driver of digitization. The time and travel required to use collections in person are prohibitive for most. Online digital copies of unique collection materials remove financial and geographical barriers to research. Instantaneous remote access also promotes collaboration and information sharing among researchers. Digitization additionally paved the way for full-text searching. The ability to search the contents of books and archival collections has not only made these materials more discoverable but also has fueled the development of research methodologies collectively known as digital scholarship.
Digitizing for access brings a secondary preservation benefit. Once materials are digitized and made accessible online, they are spared the wear and tear of handling by staff and researchers. In particular, oversized items such as maps, blueprints, and large textiles (quilts and preaching charts, for example), as well as fragile materials, benefit from less frequent handling. In most cases, however, the digital copy never fully replaces the analog original in the collection. Digitized items remain in the collection in analog form because they are easier and less expensive to preserve than their corresponding digital copies. We will revisit this reality later in the series.
Why Don’t We Digitize Everything?
Let us return to the question introduced at the beginning of the article. “When will the Historical Society’s collections be digitized?” If we’re talking about all of DCHS’s collections, we can safely answer not in our lifetimes! Why not? Because digitization is not an isolated “one and done” act, rather, it is a single component of a complex process that requires thoughtful planning and management before and after digitization. It requires a significant and ongoing investment in equipment, digital storage, digital preservation workflows, staff time, and specialized skill development. Digitization is a leap into the never-ending work of digital stewardship; we will explore its complexities in next month’s article.
The Historical Society took the digitization leap years ago; since then, we have learned a lot about our capacity to care for digital and digitized materials. We will continue to digitize selected materials and develop our digital collections, taking steps forward (and sometimes backward) as we individually and institutionally strive to build a robust and sustainable digitization and digital stewardship program.