Prepared by Sidney Gao and James Van Mil – updated January 2021

This document provides guidelines for determining the suitability of a collection for digitization by the Digital Collections Team, as well as providing information to create a successful project proposal. When combined with the Digitization Selection Rubric, these guidelines will provide a structured, holistic approach to understanding the workflow impact and potential value of digitization projects, ensuring that collections will have a lasting effect on research and scholarship at the University of Cincinnati. With some exceptions digitization should focus on curated selections of larger physical collections. This will ensure cohesive digital collections, and allow for a broad focus to highlight our collections across different areas.

This document addresses selection for library-owned Special Collections materials and digital collection building; it does not, however, address selection for digitization for access, digitization for preservation, or “digitization-on-demand” services, such as digitization requests from faculty or researchers.

Priorities

These metrics will help to determine the value that the proposed project will have as a digital collection in a UC Libraries repository.

Historic Use Patterns

The collection should fulfill one of these two criteria:

  • The collection has an existing user community whose specific research needs are fulfilled by the content being digitized

    • e.g. The collection is frequently requested to use for reference

  • The collection has an expected user community whose specific research needs are fulfilled by the content being digitized

    • e.g. The collection has been requested to use for reference by those who cannot access the physical materials

Critical Mass

The collection will be more impactful if it fulfills any of these criteria:

  • The collection is a part of an existing digital collection in a UC Libraries repository

  • The collection complements an existing digital collection in a UC Libraries repository

  • The collection complements an existing digital collection in another institution’s repository

Distinctiveness

The collection should fulfills these three criteria:

  • The collection represents rare and unique holdings of the UC Libraries

  • The collection has not already been digitized by UC Libraries, or another institution

  • The digital collection is not yet available publicly online (e.g. HathiTrust, Internet Archive, etc.)

Diversity & Inclusion

The collection will be more impactful if it fulfills any of these criteria:

  • The collection is representative of the local community served by the University of Cincinnati and the City of Cincinnati

  • The collection is representative of minority or historically underrepresented groups

Object Preservation

The collection will be more impactful if it fulfills any of these criteria:

  • The collection is extremely fragile and cannot be handled by a researcher

  • Lack of digitization poses high risk of information loss

Strategic context

The collection will be more impactful if it fulfills any of these criteria:

  • Works towards any of the University of Cincinnati Strategic Directions, including Academic Excellence, Urban Impact, or the Innovation agenda

  • Supports the work of the UC Libraries Strategic Sizing Charter (internal document)

  • Supports the Pillars or the Tenets of the UC Libraries Strategic Plan

Restrictions

These metrics indicate challenges that the proposed project will pose to the Digital Collections Team workflow.

The collection should fulfill one of these four criteria:

  • The collection is in the public domain

  • Appropriate permissions have been obtained from the copyright holder(s) of all objects in the collection

  • For items where the copyright holder is unknown, an effort must have taken place to determine the copyright. Orphan works1 may be digitized, even if the copyright holder is unknown

  • If a copyright holder is possibly known, but not fully determined, then the item must be evaluated to be low-risk

Content Restrictions

The collection should fulfill one of these two criteria:

  • The collection does not include any Personal Identifying Information (PII), such as SSNs, birthdays, or medical information

  • If the collection does contain PII, the information can be redacted or parts of the collection may be embargoed

Accessibility Needs

The collection should fulfill one of these two criteria:

  • The collection consists of material that will meet accessibility standards when digitized, or

  • If the digital collection poses an accessibility risk, the selector will work with the digital content team to formulate a plan to make the resulting digital collection accessible2

Preparation

The collection should fulfill these three criteria:

  • The physical collection has been arranged and catalogued

  • All items marked for digitization are in the desired order, and inventoried on the provided Metadata/Inventory spreadsheet

  • If additional preparation is needed, the labor has been identified and planned for

Metadata

The collection should fulfill these three criteria:

  • All digitized objects must have a reasonable amount of metadata so that the items are discoverable within a digital collection platform

  • Metadata creation is the responsibility of the collection selector or their appointee, unless a specific agreement has been reached with the Digital Collections Team

  • Metadata/Inventory spreadsheet has been filled in to the best of the selector’s ability

Handling & Condition

The collection should fulfill one of these two criteria:

  • The collection is in good condition and has no specific handling concerns

  • If the collection is in poor condition, there must be approval and oversight by The Preservation Lab

Peripheral Considerations

These metrics are not directly evaluated when considering a digitization project proposal, but could affect project planning and should therefore be kept in mind.

Funding3

The collection should fulfill one of these two criteria:

  • The project does not require external funding

  • If the project does require external funding, the digital content team must be brought in when appropriate to help develop a grant application

Capacity

  • In-house Digitization Projects

    • Digital Imaging @ The Preservation Lab is able to reformat analog book and paper media, including photographs

    • Digital Imaging @ The Preservation Lab cannot reformat audio-visual media, such as 8mm film, 16mm film, or reel-to-reel audio

  • Contracted Digitization Projects

    • For projects that will be contracted to a vendor, the digital content team will be consulted at appropriate project planning stages

    • Appropriate quality control workflows and digital preservation plans will be created for files received from a vendor

  1. https://www.copyright.gov/orphan/ ↩

  2. This may require the commitment of additional resources from the selector. ↩

  3. Please contact the digital collections team (digitalcontent@ucmail.uc.edu) if it is unclear if external funding is needed. ↩