Digitisation

Digitisation checklist

Draw up a digitisation plan that includes the material you want to digitise, the resources you have and will need, how you will store and manage the digitised material, and the benefits digitisation will bring to the archive
Make sure you have the correct equipment needed and have access to practical training
Create a step-by-step plan of your digitisation process so it stays consistent, now and in the future. Select a collection or part of a collection to test out your digitisation procedures.
Follow preservation guidelines when handling the documents
Digitise your items. We recommend photographing them using a good quality digital camera. Make sure camera settings are consistent and light is evenly spread across the document.
Set up a storage system to store your images. Arrange files in a hierarchy that reflects the original collection's catalogue.
Create backup copies of your digital files in a different location to your original, such as a hard drive, memory stick or cloud
For each photograph, keep a high quality preservation copy as the original, and a lower quality access copy for promotional, commercial and research use