Keep Calm and Carry On : managing a digitisation project

Francine Millard, Digitisation Manager for the Medical History of British India Project, National Library of Scotland

Medical History of British India Project

2005 - 44 volumes2007 – 126 further

volumes2008 -135 Veterinary

volumes2009- 46 Lunatic

Asylum volumes2011 – Vaccination

reports

The P word

NLS outsourced microfilming and digitisationFull competitive tendering Preservation standards required

Logistics

Organise tracking for each book/batchBatch workflows useful

Doing the work

Timings – 6 weeks per 4,000 pagesTime allowed for metadata and preparation of material and paperwork

Care of library material

Champion of metadata!Digital Object Database – DODGranularityThesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM) and Arts and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)

Quality assurance

Checking that standards are metIdentifying re-workMatch image to unique DOD number

Optical Character Recognition

Pdf and htm file produced for each tif imageText-backed pdfs fully searchableUse ftp to send and receive files

Research and promotion

Research and promotion

Supervision of studentsDiscover NLS articleText for web feature

A unique job

Deadlines deadline and more deadlines!Variety of tasksExpertise from colleagues

A world of sex, drugs and disease

Dusty dull records on the outsideJuicy tales and anecdotes on the inside

Medical personnel

The Bowel Gang

Bones and boils

19th Century lunatic asylums

Rules and rum barrels

Disease and colonial medicine

Linkshttp://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/http://www.dpconline.org/http://www.publiccontractsscotland.

gov.uk/