An AMIGOS Workshop held May 5, 1999 at the Radisson Central Hotel, Dallas

This was a four-hour afternoon workshop focusing on the concept of large-scale imaging projects undertaken by groups of institutions. Robin L. Dale of RLG's Digital Collections Project was the first speaker. She highlighted a number of issues central to any institutional decision to embark on a digital imaging project and the questions an institution should ask itself before beginning an imaging project.

One of the main points of her presentation was that planning for a digital imaging project is fundamentally different from other institutional projects mainly because of the fact that not many imaging projects have been undertaken and completed to date. As a result, there is as yet no infrastructure of vendors, consultants, and standards in place for digital imaging projects (as opposed to a well-developed area such as a cooperative microfilming project). However, she stated that the advice and expertise is out there, and that an imaging project can be very successful as long as all parties involved remain flexible and are willing to outsource key steps of the operations.

Some of the difficulties involved in an imaging project include conflicts or misunderstandings about funding, local vs. consortial priorities, institutional and/or vendor delays, the steep learning curve inherent in an imaging project, item selection issues, image format issues, and cataloging and user interface issues. Last but certainly not least, she stated that politics and the human element are often underestimated in an imaging project, primarily because it necessitates a level of departmental, institutional, and consortial cooperation not often needed in other daily operations and projects.

The questions that should be asked before beginning an imaging project are:

1. what is the purpose of the project
2. who is the intended audience
3. what are the physical characteristics (text, images, or both) of the collection to be digitized
4. who owns the material (copyright issues should definitely be sorted out prior to digitization)
5. what is the timeframe for accomplishing the project
6. who will be responsible for creating and providing access to the collection
7. who will be responsible for long-term maintenance of the digital collection

Finally, she recommended that flexibility be built into the project by employing a distributed storage and delivery system rather than a centralized one. The most important parts of any imaging project are planning, flexibility, and the willingness to seek assistance and advice from outside the institution.

Steve Smith of AMIGOS Imaging Service was the second featured speaker of the day. He reiterated the major points of Robin Dale's presentation, and highlighted the advantages of a cooperative, multi-institutional imaging project. Chief among these pluses are the greater possibilities for grant funding, expanded user base/visibility, and the opportunity to link similar collections into a single interface. He pointed out that advantages of single-institution imaging projects are that they require less planning and that full attention can be paid to the specific needs and priorities of a single institution. However, funding may be harder to obtain and they do not have the aforementioned benefits of a larger consortial project.

He next outlined some of the main reasons why imaging projects fail (or never get off the ground). These include institutions not having established the role or purpose of imaging within their own walls, a reluctance to commit resources (usually staff), the lack of a common objective among participants in the project, and finally, waiting for imaging standards to be put in place. Conversely, he listed the prerequisites for a successful imaging project as being:

1. firm, measurable objectives
2. a full understanding and commitment from all levels of institutional staff and among institutions
3. an adequate and substantial allocation of resources (especially staff).

Examples of digital imaging projects:
http://www.arl.org/did/
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
http://coloradodigital.coalliance.org/
http://www.rlg.org/scarlet