NumericNumeric Statistical assessment of the digitisation of Europes cultural heritage. 19 June 2007 Phillip Ramsdale IPF

NumericNumeric Analogue-to-Digital The study seeks to capture information about analogue-to- digital conversion of physical materials including the preservation of facsimile images, but this does not include text written directly to the web.

NumericNumeric Study phasing NOW Mar 08

NumericNumeric Cultural heritage Culture / Creative Industry x "part of" NACE 1.1ISIC 3.1NAICS 2002 EUUN North America Video, film and photography of which: Photography x x x x 2230 x x 7499 x x x 7114 x Music and the visual and performing arts Sound recording and music publishing Visual and Performing arts (including Festivals) x x x x 7499 x x 9249 x x x 7115 x x x Radio and TV (Broadcasting) x x x x Libraries (includes archives) Museums92.5 x9232 x71211 Historic and heritage sites92.5 x9232 x71212 Other heritage institutions x71219

NumericNumeric Study outputs Standard definitions, classifications & indicators. A tested model for future policy monitoring. Estimates of the scale of digitisation in Europe. Improved estimates of the analogue base. A sustainable framework for measuring the progress of digitisation efforts in Europe. Web-site informing of progress and pointing to useful frameworks.

NumericNumeric Recording in a standard way to take account of differences: FUNDING of digitisation activities TECHNOLOGY employed INSTITUTIONAL OBJECTIVES NATIONAL POLICY Establish UNIFORM approaches for: Classification of outputs Definition of indicators Data collation by national institutions This will facilitate Benchmarking

NumericNumeric What are we measuring? What population? i.e. define culture. What objects / materials? Which technologies? The technology employed differs between sectors

NumericNumeric What population? Film A/V and Archives, Libraries, Museums, Yes… but… what about Research libraries? There are ambiguities and inconsistencies. Brief: …to follow as much as possible the definitions of cultural institutions as used by UNESCO and EUROSTAT.

NumericNumeric What objects? Collective memory of print: books, journals, newspapers Photographs Museum objects Archival documents Audio-visual materials such as films Granularity becomes coarser as the classification is summarised.

NumericNumeric Which technologies? The standards adopted materially influence the quality and cost. File formats Sampling rates Source microfilm, flat paper, etc.. OCR source fonts Metadata creation / storage

NumericNumeric The Method – put simply Infer the overall scale of digitisation activity and expenditure using data collated from a sample of institutions believed to be representative in their specific sector / country. Verify the estimates against a foundation database of the known analogue universe. i.e. institutions, collections, staff, etc..

NumericNumeric Mapping: Analogue to Digital DIGITAL MATERIALS ANALOGUE MATERIALS Bottom - Up Top - Down

NumericNumeric Tested method Could be any, or a mixture of: coincidental national surveys of major institutions enhanced by sample survey of other institutions estimates based on robotically collected data estimates based on analogue trends

NumericNumeric Persistent research Make estimates based on jig-saw data assembled from desk-research; Review project descriptions for data (investment and outputs) in order to reference extrapolated statistics; Mount samples surveys to supplement and enhance the data and estimates deriving from desk research; Investigate other possibilities such as persistent identifiers; Service national survey initiatives by providing tested frameworks.

NumericNumeric Desk research phase will provide useful pointers Past surveys help in identifying the lowest branches, with thebiggest fruits. i.e.Concentrate on importance and avoid effort on comparatively trivial items.

NumericNumeric dk it gr de fi

NumericNumeric Public Libraries Source: Status of Technology and Digitization in the Nations Museums and Libraries, US Institute of Museum and Library Services, Jan Funding of digitisation remains uncertain However, digitisation is not a high priority In the past year did you have funding for: YesNo? technology?81%17%2% digitization?12%71%17% Next year do you plan to have funding for YesNo? technology?75%9%17% digitization?20%52%29%

NumericNumeric Archives Source: Status of Technology and Digitization in the Nations Museums and Libraries, US Institute of Museum and Library Services, Jan Funding of digitisation is more certain This makes it easier to verify the statistics In the past year did you have funding for: YesNo? technology?76%20%4% digitization?57%38%5% Next year do you plan to have funding for YesNo? technology?67%13%20% digitization?59%19%22% 73% for State Library Administrative Agencies

NumericNumeric Materials that are being digitised Institutions reporting digitisation of the following in the past year (IMLS) 5 highest ranked materials Public Libraries ArchivesState Library Admin Agencies Photographs4.8%17.5%2.7% Correspondence, diaries, etc.2.4%6.5%12.8% Historical documents/archives3.3%11.6%5.1% Maps1.9%6.6%8.1% Government publications0.0%1.1%15.4% Information on the institution4.8%5.4%5.3% Films, videotapes1.0%6.5%7.9% Other items0.0%5.0%10.0% Manuscripts1.0%7.4%2.6% Images of items in the collections1.5%6.5%0.0%

NumericNumeric Coarse Benchmarks Source: IFLA/UNESCO Survey on Digitisation and Preservation 1999 MaximumMinimumAverage Per pageUS$15US$0.12US$7.72 Per bookUS$154US$28US$70.66 Per serial issueUS$14

NumericNumeric Specific Benchmarks

NumericNumeric Other Sources Report on Digital Material in European National Archives; EDL project survey of digitisation in CENL National Libraries; Status reports; Information from projects like EDLNet, MINERVA and MICHAEL; Other projects / studies / surveys referred by experts.

NumericNumeric Robotics – Investigate possibilities Consult The European Digital Library –persistent identifiers Other projects e.g. London Metropolitan Archive The European (Internet) Archive Multimatch (ISTI-CNR) Could help harvest data in future

NumericNumeric An example where tags for digitised content may be required The collections span 1067 to 2006 and fill 101km of shelving over two sites. 10,000+ parish registers; c.80,000 wills; 9,000+ records for named individuals; c.7,000 poll and electoral registers; c.2,000 admission and discharge registers for London schools Chargeable online access via a web-site. Part revenues reinvested in the care and preservation of the collections. This new service would sit alongside existing on- site services which the City will continue to provide.

NumericNumeric First priorities – the next 5 months Desk research / frameworks in-practice Clarify classifications / definitions Build / verify analogue database Review robotic opportunities Promote and involve: –Website –Newsletter –Presentations

NumericNumeric Role of this Group in the study Advocate the study objectives to colleagues in own sector / country. Apply study outputs as required in own country. The Commission may follow-up this meeting with a specific request for contact details of suitable experts in each country to help the study source further information.

NumericNumeric Thank you