Digital Imaging: A Practical Handbook

Citation

Tilsed, I. (2001), "Digital Imaging: A Practical Handbook", Online Information Review, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 214-222. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2001.25.3.214.1

There can be no doubt that digital imaging is now an integral part of the electronic library. Groundbreaking projects, together with government funding for digitisation (such as the New Opportunity Fund in the UK), have meant that more institutions are now entering this arena. Consequently, librarians, archivists and IT specialists now find themselves faced with new challenges and unfamiliar territory. What exactly is digitisation? What should be digitised and why? What resources are required? The questions are numerous and all‐important.

Stuart Lee, a recognised authority in the digital imaging world, has come to the aid of many and produced an introductory practitioner’s guide that “focuses on a practical approach to undertaking and managing a digitisation project”. The book is very much based on his experiences – he is responsible for the Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive and was the author of a scoping study that assessed the future of the University of Oxford’s digital collections.

The handbook is structured around the workflow process of a digital imaging project, from the instigation of a project through delivery and completion of the final product. It starts with a discussion of the meaning of digitisation and the reasons for digitising material. The instigation of the project, including the selection and assessment of material, is thoroughly explained, with the introduction of a decision matrix that is developed and expanded in subsequent chapters. In this, as in later chapters, Lee uses a working example (sometimes real, sometimes fictitious) to further explain the application of the material. The actual mechanics and technology of digital imaging are covered succinctly, although readers are directed to more detailed works in this area for further investigation. The processes of preparation and actual digitisation are then reviewed, accompanied by an invaluable and comprehensive “ready reckoner” or costing template for digitisation projects. It is worth noting that the costs of the post‐digitisation stages, those of cataloguing, delivery and completion, are fully represented in this template – these areas alone can account for up to a third of overall project cost. In the last chapter, in which cataloguing is discussed at length, the requirements for metadata and schema are analysed and compared, with discussion of SGML, XML, Dublin Core and the EAD DTD, among others. During each stage additions to the decision matrix are outlined and integrated into the workflow model.

The handbook closes with three appendices. The first is a summary of the national and international context of digitisation, the second a set of two questionnaires to be used for the assessment of an institution’s collections, with the third appendix providing detailed further reading.

Stuart Lee has written a welcome book. There are many detailed studies of digital imaging technologies and practices, many of which are refered to throughout this handbook. However, Stuart Lee has brought together the pertinent aspects of many of these texts, together with his own and others experiences, to produce a truly up‐to‐date, introductory and accessible guide to the whole process of digital imaging. Those who are intending to embark upon a digitisation project would do well to read this handbook.