Digitization Services

The problem: You want to digitize materials, but are unsure where to start. You're not even sure if you understand what digitization will entail and how it will impact your organization.

The solution: Work with someone who can steer you through the process, eliminate roadblocks for you, and put you on the path to success.

Hurst Associates works with organizations that are thinking about converting hardcopy and analogue items (e.g., photographs, letters, newspapers, journals, ephemera, audio) to digital files. This process -- known as digitization -- contains many steps and organizations often need guidance to assure that they take into consideration all of the aspects that the project will entail. For example:

  • What criteria is the organization using to decide what materials to convert into electronic form?
  • How will the materials be indexed so that they can be easily retrieved?
  • Are they using file formats, storage media, and preservation techniques that will ensure that materials are available in the future?
Hurst Associates works with organizations to help them understand and plan all aspects of a successful digitization project, including project management, copyright and legal restrictions, metadata creation, integration into existing systems and services, hardware/software concerns, and image preservation.

Hurst Associates brings both academic and practical knowledge to digitization projects gained from specific project work as well as research on trends and activities. Hurst Associates has completed digitization plans (or pre-plans) for:

In addition, Hurst Associates' principal, Jill Hurst-Wahl, has worked on corporate (in-house) projects that digitized journals and working documents, as well as a demonstration project (Women's Suffrage Digitization Project also called Winning The Vote) for the Rochester Regional Library Council. Since spring 2004, she has taught a graduate class entitled "Creating, Managing and Preserving Digital Assets" for Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. She has also taught workshops on planning digitization projects and facilitated a discussion series on digitization for the Central NY Library Resources Council. Beginning in August 2004, Jill has published a blog on digitization called Digitization 101.

To discuss how Hurst Associates can help you with your digitization project/program, contact Hurst Associates at (315) 243-4403 or hurst@HurstAssociates.com.