Have you ever wanted to digitize your family collections but never started? There is no time like the present!
Take advantage of any extra time you may have to chip away at your personal archive. While you’re at it, consider helping to build, share, and preserve state history by donating some of your digital items to the ND State Library for inclusion in North Dakota Memories, which is a collection consisting of images, documents, and objects that have been digitized from the collections of institutions and residents (and former residents) throughout the state. The items in the collection are freely accessible to all researchers online via Digital Horizons and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).
Typically, items are contributed to the North Dakota Memories collection through ScanDay, which is an event hosted in libraries across the state where the ND State Library’s Digital Initiatives team brings scanning and photography equipment to a community to digitize photographs, documents, objects, etc.
But through Virtual ScanDay, items can be submitted to the ND State Library from anywhere by anyone (even if you do not live in the state anymore).
Virtual ScanDay is a spinoff program of ScanDay. It was started during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for citizens and organizations to contribute copies of their items to the North Dakota Memories collection. It has since been made into an ongoing program/ service. The only caveat is (and this is the biggest difference from a traditional ScanDay) is that your items must be already digitized. For example, your items (like photographs) need to be in a digital format (like JPEG or TIFF) in order for them to be virtually submitted.
If you are interested in participating in the ND State Library’s Virtual ScanDay and would like to submit items, contact Digital Initiatives to set up a transfer of your digital files.
The ND State Library encourages submissions of photographs, documents, objects, oral histories, videos, etc.
Review the tabs in this section to learn more about the criteria for photographs (and other images), documents, objects, oral histories, and videos.
Still not sure what to submit? Here are a few suggestions and tips to give you some ideas.
To give you even more ideas of what to submit, you can also browse the entire North Dakota Memories collection to see what others have contributed.
Consult this handout for additional information on what should or should not be submitted:
Images refers to photographs, negatives, slides, photographic postcards, etc. Consult the sections below for additional information.
Photographs
It is preferred that photographs:
Negatives & Slides
It is preferred that negatives & slides:
Postcards/ Photographic Postcards
It is preferred that postcards:
Documents can include letters, diaries, booklets or pamphlets, certificates, histories, programs, etc.
It is preferred that documents:
Objects can also be submitted (paintings, badges, medals, mugs, artworks, commemorative plates, awards/ plaques, etc.). These oversized items will likely not fit on a scanner, so they will have to be photographed.
Because objects will likely be photographed, it is preferred that they be:
It is preferred that oral histories/ audio:
Many of these resources and programs are funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
