Digital Archives, Collections

USING NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR PROVIDING BETTER ACCESS TO
 AND SAFEGUARDING OF THE MOST VALUABLE CULTURAL DOCUMENTS

Abstract. This presentation, based on related work undertaken by UNESCO and IFLA (the International Federation of Library Associations), reviews the objectives and methods of using digitisation technologies for facilitating and widening access to unique and vulnerable documents which: 

• had a   major influence on  history, contribute in an outstanding way to the understanding of historical developments in a particular period;
• are related to places which witnessed the birth of major political, social and religious movements;
• have a special association with the life or works of a person or people who have made an outstanding contribution to world or national history or culture;
• document in an outstanding way an important subject or major theme of world, regional or national history or culture.

These technologies also contribute  to the preservation of such documents. The chapter details the criteria to be applied for the selection of documents to be digitised. It identifies the requirements to be met by  digitisation technology in the case of  different types of documents, and presents the ways in which these requirements can be met. It reviews the software tools used, raises the issues of cataloguing electronic versions of documents, the problems related to access, reproduction, copyright and preservation of electronic versions.

This chapter is available as a one-day (6 hour) training package for a seminar: the text with remarks for trainer, references and a collection of PowerPoint slides.

• Who’s it for?
  Jargon-free and full of practical content this course is suitable for both humanity people and IT professionals alike, offering criteria for the selection of objects to be digitised, and considering safeguarding of digitised documents.
• What will I study?

  • Criteria for the  selection of early documents objects to be digitised 

  • Requirements for digitisation techniques

  • Advantages and drawbacks of electronic versions of documents

  • Cataloguing the electronic version of a document

  • Preservation of digitised documents

  • Software tools used for digitisation

  • Examples of digitisation projects

Prepared by

Pal Vasarhelyi, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary

Back to Top