I can comment on the datacapture end of things. The Church of England Records Centre is running a project to key the entries in approx 100 bound registers, some with handwritten entries. A company in Newcastle is handling the project, Newcastle Data Services. They double key every entry and they write various macros to automate as many routines as possible in the data entry, which is complicated by changes in recording practice over the decades, meaning that one volume can differ quite markedly from another. The keying work is done off-site. I know that's a problem for some kinds of museum catalogues, but their own staff collect and return the volumes and a careful tracking process has, so far, avoided any problems. It's less traumatic than shipping stuff abroad. I'd be happy to discuss further off-line if desired.
I also received some advice from this list about scanning 14000 index cards about one year ago (it's presumably archived). There were some good solutions proposed for small scale projects, including a hand-held scanning pen. And the Natural History museum have a state-of-the-art high speed system based on banks' cheque scanners which apparently works magnificently for huge volumes. But I didn't find any solution for a mid scale project.
Dr Wendy Sudbury
Director
Cambridge Management Group
47 Linhope Street
London NW1 6HL
Tel: +44 (0) 207 723 1627
Fax: +44 (0) 207 723 7077
email: [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: Sarah Tinsley
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 13 February 2003 15:47
Subject: digitising previously published catalogue entries
*Apologies to those who have already received this message and replied*
Dear Colleagues
At Tate we have an ongoing plan to publish online catalogue entries
about works in Tate's Collection. We have a system in place for entries
being written now, but we need to resolve how to handle previously
published catalogue entries - c.7000 in total and varying in length.
I have had some feedback from colleagues in other museums handling this
kind of material but it would be great to hear if anyone else has done
this. I am particularly interested in whether this was done in house
(softward, scanning, proofreading, marking up and loading to website) or
the material sent abroad for re-keying. Also extremely interested in
costs!
With many thanks
Sarah
Sarah Tinsley
Senior Digital Content Manager, Digital Programmes, Tate
Tel: 020 7887 8844
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.tate.org.uk
|