Introduction

Jody Butterworth

The Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) was set up in 2004 with an initial grant of £10 million from Arcadia and is administered by the British Library. The purpose of the programme is to contribute to the preservation of documentary heritage, which is at risk of neglect, physical deterioration or destruction in areas of the world where resources are more limited, primarily within Africa, Asia, Latin America and parts of Europe. This is achieved by the annual award of grants that enable applicants to locate relevant endangered archival collections, to arrange their transfer to a suitable local archival home where appropriate, to create digital copies of the material and to deposit these with local institutions and the British Library. To date, it has funded over 300 projects in more than 90 countries whose variety and scope has been astounding. As a result, the programme currently has over 6 million images online.

After the excitement of the tenth anniversary celebrations began to die down, the Endangered Archives team realised that there was a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from all the projects across the world, and that this information should be collated to provide advice for future projects that would probably encounter very similar issues. Many grant holders had succeeded (sometimes against all odds) in extremely inaccessible and challenging locations and the EAP team felt it was important to share this unique and valuable knowledge. This book is the result. Its aim is to try to prevent anyone from having to learn from scratch in comparable scenarios. The intention is to boost the confidence of anyone about to embark on a digitisation project (perhaps for the first time) and who may not have the luxury of having a colleague nearby whose expertise they can call upon. We hope that by giving clear guidance about the processes involved and the standards that EAP expects, the quality of material produced by any project will be of a uniformly high standard.

Of course, no two projects are alike and this book cannot be prescriptive in the advice that it gives. The most important thing we have learnt from reading the final reports from the many project holders is the need to be flexible and resourceful. The types of grants awarded have been so varied that we cannot adopt a ‘one size fits all’ attitude. Some projects are based in one location and have the luxury of a dedicated space within an institution to digitise, while others are peripatetic, searching for material held in private family collections. Some projects have had regular and reliable electricity supplies, whilst others have not. EAP has an extremely broad view of the term ‘archive’ and this will also impact on how to digitise — a tightly bound manuscript, a glass plate negative, a map or a brittle publication will all need different approaches. The recommendations in these pages have all been tried and tested. Part of the book has been written by previous grant holders, who have experienced what an EAP project entails for themselves, and the remainder has been written by British Library staff, so the standards we require from EAP projects will not differ from those that we set ourselves.

Digitisation is complex and although there are many resources available, there is nothing that quite targets the specialist needs of any current or prospective EAP applicant. A potential EAP grant holder needs to become an expert in so many disciplines: they are required to be competent at project management; be able to accurately assess the amount of material they anticipate digitising in a certain timeframe; and they are expected to foresee what measures they should have in place if they are working in an area with unpredictable resources. In addition, any grant holder is also expected to produce images to a professional standard and to understand the equipment suitable for digitisation projects — not only camera models and lenses, but also the specialist knowledge of preferred models that have more robust sealants for dusty or humid environments. Grant holders will need technical knowledge about image capture, to know the correct file formats for archival purposes, and have an understanding of digital preservation — basically, everything that means an image will comply with British Library standards. Finally, there are the truly unique concerns for some projects, such as how conventional laptop and external hard drives are vulnerable to the effects of high altitude.

Many of the projects do not have the luxury of state-of-the-art facilities. They are projects on the move, often photographing rare and precious manuscripts in people’s homes or at various institutions where compromises may have to be made. For example, some projects have found it necessary to digitise outside in natural daylight because there has been no electricity supply.

We hope this book covers all of the essential skills needed for an EAP grant. Chapter 1 considers project planning and management. This is, of course, a discipline in its own right, and so the chapter is necessarily limited to the basic essentials; those wishing to learn about project management as a whole will probably need to consult other resources. The purpose here is to outline some of the key issues specific to a digitisation project in the field. This begins at the planning stage, before funding has even been obtained, and then moves on to the phase when the project is up and running. Chapter 2 offers a comprehensive guide to the type of equipment you will need if you choose either a digital SLR camera or a scanner. On the whole, camera set-ups are the most suitable for EAP projects, and the chapter therefore concentrates on the workings of a camera, and on how to set up the equipment for optimum capture. Scanning technologies and capture methods are addressed more briefly. Chapter 3 focusses on the standards required for digitisation, including a section comprising illustrative images that follow our guidelines and those that do not. Although EAP does not fund conservation as part of its awards, it is important to consider preservation issues when undertaking a digitisation project and this is discussed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 gives a step-by-step process for the workflow to ensure that each stage is carried out correctly, while Chapter 6 deals with practicalities and guidance when in the field, with many examples from previous grant holders.

These chapters are also accompanied by a series of digital appendices.1 These provide further detailed guidance about certain aspects. Appendix 1 offers a pair of practical methods for digitisation in the field, one using a portable book cradle ideal for small fragile bound manuscripts, the other using a custom built ‘slide table’ more suitable for studio settings; the methods of making both the cradle and slide table are also included. Appendix 2 provides detailed advice on how to set up electronic flash in your digitisation studio. Appendix 3 contains step-by-step process notes for digitising with a standard camera and software suite. Finally, Appendix 4 gives a costed list of equipment for a digitisation project.

If you are reading this book because you have just been awarded an EAP grant, then we hope you find it useful. If you have picked it up because you are toying with the idea of applying, then we hope that by the time you have reached the end of the book, you feel that you can apply — and we look forward to reading your application. On a personal note, as EAP Curator, it has been an extremely humbling experience to read the final reports of numerous grant holders. From the comfort of my desk at St Pancras, I have been transported all around the world and have heard about the tireless efforts and resourceful solutions that the teams have used to ensure the successful outcomes of their projects. Without their passion and enthusiasm, the Endangered Archives Programme would not be the success that I believe it is, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved with an EAP project. It is due to their dedication that the Programme has been able to make completely unique and previously unknown material available for scholarship.

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