Digital Projects Toolkit
This toolkit is a project of the Digital Initiatives department at the ND State Library, and it covers the basics of cultural heritage digitization projects. Each of the sections listed below includes practical tools, guidelines, examples, and resources for more in-depth learning.
- Project Planning
- The best projects have well-documented and well-thought-out plans behind them.
- This section covers the steps involved in creating a project plan. It also provides an overview of selection criteria for digitization, things to consider before starting, and the pros/ cons of digitization.
- Copyright
- Can I scan this and put it online? Is this in the public domain?
- This section covers these frequently asked questions and more about copyright. It also covers how to determine and describe the copyright status of your materials.
- Digitizing/ Scanning
- Digitization and scanning are terms that are often used interchangeably.
- This section provides guidance on digitization standards and best practices, workflows, and in-house vs. vendor digitization.
- Metadata
- Metadata is data about data. Basically, metadata is the information about a digital file (such as the title, date, format, description, etc.).
- This section provides an overview of metadata, its best practices, and the required/ recommended metadata elements of the ND State Library.
- Digital Collection Management
- This section covers best practices for file naming and organizing collections.
- It also includes information on content statements/ warnings and rights statements.
- Preservation
- A lot of time and effort has gone into planning, digitizing, and processing, so now is time to protect your digital collection and ensure its longevity.
- This section provides and information and the best practices on digital storage and digital preservation. Also included is information about preserving other formats, such as: physical materials, websites/ webapges, email, and social media.
