A study into the effect of digitisation projects on the management and stability of historic photograph collections

Authors:
Veronica Davis-Perkins;Richard Butterworth;Paul Curzon;Bob Fields
Affiliations:
Interaction Design Centre, School of Computer Science, Middlesex University, London, UK;Senate House Library, University of London, London, UK;Department of Computer Science, Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK;Interaction Design Centre, School of Computer Science, Middlesex University, London, UK
Venue:
ECDL'05 Proceedings of the 9th European conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries
Year:
2005

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Abstract

The results of an ongoing interview study with custodians of historic photograph collections are reported. In particular the success or otherwise of recent digitisation projects is addressed, as well as the extent to which these projects have affected the long term management of the collections. We examine the effects of digitisation on the primary sources, their digitised surrogates and the relationship between the two in terms of selection, authenticity and representation. In most cases we have observed that the emphasis placed by the funding bodies on ‘accessibility' of tangible numbers of resources is detrimental to these three other issues. However, we report in detail on one case study of a local history library where its digitisation work is embedded in core library activity and seen as successful and positive. We conclude by suggesting that their deliberate eschewing of short term project funding is a determining factor in their success.