The Tool Desk
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1. Define the archive’s scope and audience
Decide what the archive covers and what visitors should be able to find. A local-history documentary might generate photographs, interview recordings, transcripts, production documents, maps, footage, and related ephemera. Establish whether the archive will include all of those materials or only selected items, who will use it, and which questions it should answer.
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Before digitizing, consider how originals will be handled, what can be made public, how the materials will be presented, and who will be responsible for access and storage. The Library of Congress (LOC) recommends planning around purpose, users, presentation, effects on original items, and access and storage needs: LOC planning guidance.
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Create an inventory before scanning or transferring files. Assign every item or coherent group a stable identifier, then record its location, format, creator or donor if known, date range, place, condition, rights status, and relevance to the documentary. The inventory helps prevent items from being separated from their context and makes it easier to track what has been digitized.
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Prioritize items that are fragile, unique, frequently requested, or essential to the documentary. Assess whether each item can be digitized safely in-house. Paper, photographs, audio, video, film, and born-digital files require different workflows; a consumer scanner or generic conversion app is not suitable for every source.
When to use a specialist for audiovisual material
For legacy audio and home movies, LOC advises using a full-service laboratory that specializes in the relevant original medium. Ask prospective providers about their experience with that exact carrier, handling and shipping risks, preservation expertise, master and access-copy deliverables, technical metadata, checksum delivery, and experience serving cultural heritage clients. LOC also recommends considering local providers when preservation expertise is otherwise absent: LOC audiovisual conservation laboratory guidance.
3. Digitize each format with a defined workflow
Set capture requirements for each material type before work begins. The process should identify who handles the original, what equipment or specialist service is appropriate, which output files are expected, and how the results will be checked. Retain original carriers where feasible: making a digital access copy does not automatically mean the original can or should be discarded.
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4. Keep preservation masters separate from access copies
A preservation master is intended to retain as much useful source quality as practical; an access copy is optimized for convenient viewing or listening online. Do not rely on a compressed web derivative as the only retained copy.
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For video, LOC’s guidance describes preservation copies as high resolution and high bitrate with little or no compression, while access copies may be lower resolution, lower bitrate, and more compressed. Those are distinct purposes, not interchangeable settings. See the LOC video preservation guidance, which was reviewed in 2023.
5. Create consistent, searchable descriptions
Use a shared metadata template instead of improvising a description for each item. A useful starter record includes:
- Stable identifier and title
- Description, names, dates, place, and subjects
- Source or provenance, format, and related items or documentary scenes
- Rights and access status
- Technical information about capture and file format
- Checksum values and records of fixity checks, transfers, and corrections
Consistent names, place names, dates, and subject terms make records easier to retrieve across the collection. Add searchable text or transcripts when available, and identify the source and status of transcripts so users can distinguish a checked transcript from an automated or unverified one. NARA’s digitization workflow calls for descriptive and technical metadata sufficient for retrieval and management, alongside selection, quality control, online access, and long-term integrity management: NARA digitization strategy. The page describes a 2015–2024 strategy, so it is useful here for its workflow framing, not as a current strategy period.
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For preservation metadata, PREMIS 3.0 organizes information around Objects, Events, Rights, and Agents. It is a specific metadata version published in 2015: PREMIS 3.0.
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6. Quality-check files and metadata
Quality control should cover both the digital files and their descriptions. Check that:
- Files open and play, and images are complete and legible.
- Audio and video have not been unintentionally clipped or distorted.
- Filenames and identifiers match the correct records.
- Metadata uses consistent names, dates, places, and terms.
- Rights and restrictions are recorded accurately.
Record corrections and file-transfer events rather than silently replacing files. NARA’s workflow includes quality control of digital copies and metadata as part of digitization: NARA digitization strategy.
7. Publish records people can actually search
Choose a collection platform based on how visitors need to discover material and what your team can maintain. At minimum, consider whether users can search names, places, dates, and subjects; search full text or transcripts where available; browse collections; understand context; and see access restrictions. Also assess accessibility, metadata export, stable identifiers, interoperability, hosting, maintenance, and the division of responsibility for preservation and backups.
Omeka S as one publication option
Omeka S is one possible platform, not a requirement. Its documented public search covers items, item sets, media, and published pages; advanced item search supports full-text and property-based searching. See the Omeka S search documentation and item documentation. Check the current documentation and your own requirements before choosing a platform; available evidence does not establish a comparative platform winner or current price comparison.
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8. Plan rights, privacy, and community context
Decide what may be published before opening the archive to the public. Track known rights holders, permissions, donor or participant agreements, restrictions, review dates, provenance, and a contact point. Make relevant restrictions visible to users. Consider privacy, cultural protocols, and applicable law as well as copyright.
LOC’s access principles call for access as broad as possible while respecting rights, law, accessibility obligations, agreements, and security. They also place responsibility on users to assess legal questions and obtain permissions: LOC Principles of Access. The project’s legal position cannot be determined without knowing its jurisdiction, source ownership, release forms, and collection contents; public availability alone does not establish permission.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.9. Keep separate copies and monitor integrity
Organize preservation masters, access derivatives, metadata, and backups so that their relationships are documented. Decide where separate copies will live, who checks them, and how files will be recovered if a copy is lost or damaged. A drive is one storage medium, not a complete preservation plan.
LOC video guidance recommends making a second backup copy when files are delivered on a hard drive and identifies checksums as useful for detecting changes: LOC video preservation guidance. A checksum can help detect that a file has changed; it does not itself create a backup or restore a damaged file.
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10. Troubleshoot common archive problems
Visitors cannot find items they know are in the archive
Check whether records have been published, whether the platform indexes the fields visitors are searching, and whether names, dates, place names, and subjects are entered consistently. Add transcripts or searchable text where available, and test searches using realistic visitor queries.
A digital file opens, but the image or recording is incomplete
Inspect the capture against the source and check for cropping, clipping, distortion, missing sections, or conversion problems. Record the correction and verify that the revised file still maps to the right identifier and metadata record.
A record points to the wrong file
Compare stable identifiers and filenames against the inventory and transfer records. Correct the mapping and record the change so the collection’s history remains understandable.
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A file changes or cannot be recovered
Use documented checksums or other fixity records to detect changes, then consult a known-good separate copy if one exists. If recovery cannot be verified, document the problem and avoid treating an unverified copy as a preservation master.
An item’s permission status is unclear
Keep the status visible in internal records, review donor or participant agreements, and seek appropriate legal guidance for the relevant jurisdiction before making the item public. Do not infer permission from the fact that an item has been digitized or is technically accessible.
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