{"id":5966,"date":"2016-04-17T15:14:49","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T05:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/?p=5966"},"modified":"2022-10-11T13:59:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T02:59:22","slug":"a-digitisation-scandal-that-isnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/2016\/04\/17\/a-digitisation-scandal-that-isnt\/","title":{"rendered":"A Digitisation Scandal That Isn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The equipment that the State Library of New South Wales uses for their digitisation program is a lot more sophisticated than that used in my budget digitisation studio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few days ago I woke to some startling news, \u201cNSW state library to turn $3bn collection over to private sector: In exchange for free digitisation<\/a>\u201d the headline from ITNews screamed. I started huffing with indignation about this scandal but I read the article which followed very carefully, then downloaded and read the tender documents as well as the Library\u2019s most recent\u00a0Annual Report. Often things are not what they seem.<\/p>\n

And so it was with this article. The Library is not selling any of its collections or giving them away in exchange for digitisation. It turns out that the Library is merely offering private operators \u201caccess\u201d to historical items so they can digitise the items then return the items promptly. The headline is clearly misleading. From what I can see, the article is about a fairly typical digitisation project that many of Australia\u2019s cultural institutions have been undertaking for a number of years now.<\/p>\n

There were problems in the article itself. The Library\u2019s \u2018Digital Excellence Program\u2019is a major multi-million dollar digitisation program funded by the state government which commenced\u00a0in July 2012<\/a>. Thus the Library is not even half way through this program, yet the ITNews article claimed that the Library was near the end of this project with the implied criticism that the Library had failed to digitise many items during this project. The article linked to an ITNews article published earlier this year<\/a> about the State Library\u2019s program which said that the Library \u201cnearing completion\u201d of the first phase of this significant project. This has been an essential overhaul of the Library\u2019s \u201cinfrastructure and systems\u201d. That would seem to be a wise move. It makes sense to upgrade systems before a massive increase in data generated by digitisation.<\/p>\n

The ITNews article has sparked discussion online<\/a>. Another issue with the article was its emphasis on preservation being the reason for the Library\u2019s digitisation project. Dr Lise Summers, lecturer at Curtin University and a senior archivist with the State Records Office of Western Australia observed on Twitter:<\/p>\n

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@perkinsy<\/a> @statelibrarynsw<\/a> @ausarchivists<\/a> Also misleading content. Not for electronic preservation, but e-access with preservation corollary<\/p>\n

— Dr Lise Summers (@morethangrass) April 13, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n