COVID 19 - Temporary In-House Digitization
- Dorothy Berry (Unlicensed)
Background
In response to limited staff capacity at Imaging Services and a desire to provide patrons with a quicker turnaround time and fee-free digitization, Houghton is piloting an in-house digitization program. As this is a new, piloting workflow, everything is subject to change. The work is guided by the following goals:
Increase the ease, financial-accessibility and speed of on-demand digitization to align with Harvard Library’s prioritization of access for teaching and learning
Transition from a patron driven model that focuses on working with imaging services to charge patrons for publication quality images with a 10 week delivery window, and towards a rapid response model that focuses on providing use quality scans to patrons, for free, in a much shorter window.
Continuously and consistently evaluate workflows for improvement based on evolving understandings of staff safety and feedback, digitization needs, preservation concerns and other practicalities.
Our first priority will always be the support of remote teaching and learning. When assisting instructors with requests for classes, staff should either create an activity, as they would for an on-site class, and have the faculty make their requests for reproductions, or should instruct faculty requesting single items to put the class name/number in the notes section of their special request.