Digital Imaging Project Management Workshops

The RLG PRESERV strategic plan, completed in late 1996, called for education and training of digital imaging practitioners and administrators. To meet this need, we organized and held seven workshops on "Managing Digital Imaging Projects" over approximately two years, ending in December 1999. In all, some 245 attendees completed the workshops.

The 2.5-day workshop was designed to assist librarians, archivists, curators, and preservation administrators. To develop the curriculum for these workshops, we contracted with Cornell University's Department of Preservation and Conservation.  Teaching each session were Anne Kenney, Associate Director of the Department of Preservation and Conservation, and Oya Rieger, Digital Projects Librarian, Cornell University.

Anne Kenney and Oya Rieger later collaborated on the RLG publication Moving Theory into Practice.

Curriculum

Through lectures, demonstrations, and group exercises, participants learned to:

• Set realistic goals and objectives.
• Benchmark imaging and indexing requirements.
• Determine necessary technical infrastructure to support imaging and access (hardware, software, network, communication protocols).
• Prepare budgets, including the use of the RLG Worksheet for Estimating Digital Reformatting Projects.
• Identify facilities, space, and staffing needs.
• Develop a Request for Information and a Request for Proposal from models provided, select vendors, prepare a contract for services, and develop on-going relationships.
• Monitor project activities and schedule.
• Establish a quality control program.
• Collaborate with others to provide access to and maintenance of digital collections.

To support this curriculum, RLG provided copies of Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives by Anne R. Kenney and Stephen Chapman (Cornell University Library, 1996) at a subsidized price.

Workshops held

1998
February 4-6 at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

May 13-15 at the University of Leeds, UK
May 18-20 at the University of Leeds

Sponsored by the National Library of Australia and AIMA Training and Consultancy Services, Limited
December 2-4 in Canberra
December 7-9 in Melbourne

1999
Sponsored by the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Library Association, and the Council of Federal Libraries' Library Preservation Committee
December 2-3 at the Ramada Hotel, Ottawa, Canada