Overview

This workflow covers the process for digitizing and disposal of moldy or otherwise contaminated materials that have been appraised as being of sufficient permanent informational value to require special treatment.

Exclusions

• Material where exact reproduction is desirable (e.g., original photographic material and other visual works): May create parallel process for this in the future
• Bibliographically controlled material: Unlikely to arise, but process can easily be modified to accommodate should that happen
• Audiovisual material and other outsourced work

Process

Preparation and Planning

• Determine who will be responsible for scanning and overall management of process
  • Scanning must be done by staff, students should never be responsible for working with moldy materials
  • For accessioning or processing projects, the responsible person should be the staff member in charge of the project
  • In all other cases, the Collections Archivist is responsible
• If necessary, create new archival objects for undescribed material or to break up archival objects that are only partially impacted by mold

Scanning

• Use Epson Scan 2 with following settings
  • TIFF
  • Resolution: 400 dpi
  • Color
  • Document mode
  • Document size: Pick a size larger than all the items being scanned, 11x17 is usually a good choice
  • Make sure there is plenty of space around the items to ensure nothing gets cut off
  • Follow standard naming conventions
  • Scan to a local folder
• Once all scans are complete
  • Move scans to libstaging\digitization_for_disposal
  • Submit a TS ticket that material from a particular collection was scanned to the digitization_for_disposal folder, give a deadline of 2 weeks from date of ticket submission, and say whether it can go up in Compass

Post-Processing and Quality Assurance

1. Metadata Archivist (MA) (or student assistant working for the Metadata Archivist) makes a spreadsheet with all the files to track the following steps, and adds a link to it in the ticket.
2. MA or assistant crops the images (leaving a small amount of white on each side) while confirming that the scans match the specifications, informs the submitter that material can be disposed of.
3. MA or assistant generates derivatives (thumbnails, full PDF, if appropriate).
4. MA or assistant uploads the scans to Compass for access (if appropriate).
5. MA moves the original scans and derivatives to libpres.
6. MA or assistant creates a digital object attached to the item’s Archival Object with the link to both Compass (published) and libpres (unpublished). (2-4 weeks from QA to available).
7. MA notifies submitter that post-processing is complete and remainder of the workflow can be carried out

Disposal

Once QA is complete, safely dispose of originals in a sealed garbage bag. As this process replaces the historical process of photocopying for preservation purposes, no permission from donors is required for disposal unless a specific exception is in the deed of gift (extremely rare).

Documentation

• Delete references to moldy material from conditions governing access notes
• Add processing notes at the most appropriate level of description (usually the same as where the conditions governing access notes were) stating
  • In [month/year], this material was digitized due to mold and the originals were discarded.