Digitizing Collections: Strategic Issues for the Information Manager

Citation

Pymm, B. (2005), "Digitizing Collections: Strategic Issues for the Information Manager", Online Information Review, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 320-321. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520510607623

This is the third volume in the Digital Futures series. The series aims to examine key strategic and practical issues facing librarians and others in dealing with the world of digital information. As part of this series, this particular title takes a broad approach to the whole digitisation process, providing an excellent introduction to students or to those thinking of embarking on their own projects.

The book is essentially in two parts. The first deals with the higher level strategic and planning issues. Topics discussed include the costs and benefits of digitisation, the impact digital collections may have on services within an organisation, selection for digitisation, copyright (including your own in the digital object), risk management, project management and collaborative models. All of this is presented in a highly readable form with plenty of illustrative examples and many references to follow up.

The second section of the book deals with specific areas, but again, from a management viewpoint rather than that of practitioners. Topics covered include developing the project plan, funding and cost models, managing the work flow, managing the resulting digital assets, quality assurance, etc. This is followed by chapters on digitising rare and fragile materials and one on audio and moving image collections. Quite interesting reading but, for the audio and moving image chapter in particular, not really detailed enough to provide anything other than a broad overview of the topic.

None of this information is new, but it is well presented, easy to read and makes a great introduction. My only negative comment relates to the very limited space given to outsourcing (three pages in the strategic issues part and occasional reference later). For most of us outsourcing of some or all of our digitising work is usually an issue that has to be weighed carefully, and further discussion on the pros and cons, and case studies as to why some organisations have outsourced, and why some have not, would be helpful to many readers. With the very large reading list and heaps of web sites to refer to, this book is recommended for those wishing to gain a better understanding of the whole process or those about to take responsibility for a major project.