From THO

THO Standards for Cultural Heritage Digitization Projects

General Introduction

Hundreds of institutions in Texas hold significant collections that document cultural heritage. Libraries, museums, archives, historical societies and governmental agencies have lovingly collected and cared for manuscripts, photographs, maps, publications and many other items that are important resources for students, scholars, policy makers, lifelong learners and many other audiences. The Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative (THDI) envisions unified online access to these cultural heritage resources held by Texas institutions to enhance understanding of our cultural heritage and better serve these users.

In May of 2004, representatives of libraries, museums, archives and governmental agencies responded to an invitation by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to explore this vision and propose a plan to achieve it. More than 80 individuals attended this initial meeting, with a majority volunteering their time to serve on one of six Work Groups. The initial Standards Work Group, chaired by Brian Surratt of Texas A&M University, developed a framework for thinking about standards in the context of practices used by Texas cultural heritage institutions. In 2006, the Standards Work Group continued that process and developed the basic standards in this document.

Texas Heritage Online's Standards for Cultural Heritage Digitization Projects are not the first or by any means the only attempt to set out guidelines for digitization projects. However, they take a slightly different approach. These Standards are in reality a collection of standards in various areas, including digitization, metadata, controlled vocabulary, interoperability, and preservation management. The available standards in each area are divided into three categories: minimal, which is the lowest level of common practice that the Work Group found to be acceptable; basic, which is the level that most projects should attempt to meet; and enhanced, which is generally intended for researchers and others who have an ongoing commitment to updating their digital collections to use the newest tools and standards available.

Each individual project may decide for itself which category to use in any given area. Often, cost is a significant factor in this decision. For example, institutions may have a Digital Asset Management System that supports the Dublin Core metadata syntax but not newer syntaxes such as MODS, and upgrading the system would require significant investments in software and staff development. There is nothing wrong with an institution deciding that, for its purposes, Dublin Core is perfectly adequate. There is also nothing wrong with an institution deciding to make an investment in more expensive, but possibly more descriptive, tools for describing and storing its digital collections.

In 2007-2008, the Standards Work Group will turn its attention to preparing a set of Best Practices for Cultural Heritage Digitization Projects, which will provide more practical advice for digital project managers on issues such as organizing digital objects, assigning titles and date to both physical objects and their digital surrogates, and other topics. We invite your comments and suggestions are we work through this process. This will not be the final word on standards and best practices. The THO Standards Work Group expects to update these documents regularly in order to incorporate new standards, tools, and techniques as they are developed. To follow our progress, check the area for the Standards Work Group at www.thdi.org.

Jerry Drake, General Land Office
Chair, THO Standards Work Group, 2006-2007

Houston McGaugh, Star of the Republic Museum
Chair, THO Steering Committee, 2006-2007

Danielle Cunniff Plumer, THO Coordinator
Texas State Library and Archives Commission