44 organizations discuss their efforts to digitize their rare book and document collections, specifying future plans, providing data on budgets and use of staff time, among other issues. The study provides data on the extent of digitization efforts of rare materials such as illuminated manuscripts, parchment and inscriptions in hard surfaces such as metal or stone, as well as the overall percentage of resources devoted to pre-Gutenberg texts. It also looks at efforts to market digitized collections through social media, digital repositories, and dedicated web sites and e-newsletters. Participants also discuss safety and security during digitization, both in-house and through vendors
In open ended questions, participants discuss the kind of equipment that they use and plan to purchase, how they assure material safety and security during digitization, as well as how they prioritize which collections to digitize and who influences these decisions. They also list outside service companies that they have worked with and describe how they handle digitization of special materials such as textiles or engineering blueprints, among others. The study also presents highly detailed data on sources of funding for digitization and current and planned levels of spending as well as expectations of the level of staff resources that will be devoted to digitization efforts in the near future.
Just a few of this unique 105-page report’s many finding are that:
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For 13.6% of survey participants digitization of pre-Gutenberg texts were an important or critical part of their work.
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For participants from the UK/Ireland 23.1% of their work concerned works developed prior to the development of book printing.
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41.67% of survey participants with more than 6 FTE employees in their rare book/document departments had a separate budget for digitization work.
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The outlook for obtaining outside funding for digitization work was much better in the United States than in other countries.
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48% of the colleges and universities in the sample have outsourced digitization efforts to a consultant or outside service company.
29 college/university libraries, predominantly research universities, as well as 15 other organizations that maintain significant rare book collections – museums, historic sites, and public and special libraries – contributed extensive data and commentary to the study. Data in the report is broken out by region and is presented separately for the USA, for the UK/Ireland, and for all other countries. In addition data is broken out for museums/historic sites, R1 universities, R2 universities, colleges, and for public and special libraries – as well as by size of rare book department staff.