2012 Presentations (Communicative Events)

Selecting Rare Books and Special Collections for Digitization

Gertz, Janet Elaine

This paper discusses selection of rare materials for digital conversion. Selection criteria guide decisions on whether materials should be digitized, whether they may be digitized, and whether they can be digitized. Criteria include whether the item or collection has sufficient value to justify digitization, whether digitization is appropriate for materials of this type, whether digitization can achieve the desired goals, whether the institution has infrastructure to carry out a digitization project and preserve the digital product, whether it has the intellectual property rights to create and disseminate digital versions, and whether the cost is appropriate.