Appendix F: Working with an A/V Digitization Vendor

Introduction

This document offers guidelines for working with an audiovisual preservation vendor. Before sending your analog audiovisual assets off to a vendor for digitization, it is important to determine two things:

1. Do I need to use a vendor?
   Is it more cost and time effective?
   Is it in keeping with my organization’s mission statement (vs. digitizing our collection in-house through community efforts)?
2. If I am using a vendor, how do I choose a vendor and how do I communicate what I need from them?

This document helps you to answer these questions. It also walks you through the necessary steps to working successfully with a vendor, should you choose to use one.

How to Determine If You Need to Use a Vendor for Audiovisual Digitization

Review the Advantages and Disadvantages of In-House Digitization Versus Out of House Digitization

After you have prioritized an analog audiovisual collection for digitization, you must determine if the digitization will be done by an external vendor, if you will digitize the collection yourself, or if you will use a community-based or collaborative effort to digitize the collection. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages, and you may wish to perform a combination of methods.

Vendors and specialists are vital to digitization efforts, but it is important to note that sending everything to a vendor is not always cheaper, faster, or less of a burden on your time. Below are some thoughts to review as you make your decision.

Advantages of using a vendor to perform digitization may include:

• The vendor provides a specialty service such as:
  • Photochemical film reproduction (making a new film element on film)
  • Film restoration/ replasticizing for deteriorated film
  • Tape baking or working with tapes that have “sticky shed syndrome”
  • Physical repair or inspection of film and magnetic media
  • Working with dangerous materials that offgas, are flammable, or are moldy
• The vendor has expertise, equipment, or facilities that the client does not have.
• Working with a vendor may be cheaper than investing in staff skill-building and equipment for small collections.

Disadvantages of using a vendor may include:

• Hidden time and cost to:
  • Manage and oversee the digitization project
  • Pull, ship, and re-shelve materials
  • Perform quality control of digitized files
  • Communicate any problems with the vendor and have the vendor re-do work
• Using a vendor can be more expensive than performing digitization in-house, especially for large collections.
• Rare and unique items may be in uncontrolled storage and shipping environments that may expose them to potential damage.

Advantages of in-house and community digitization include:

• It may be more cost effective for your organization to digitize in-house.
• Staff gains new skills in digitization.
• Resources (such as equipment and expertise) can be shared among organizations.
• Organization maintains physical control over collection:
  • Collection assets do not leave your organization
  • More control over the quality of the digitization
  • More control of how the collection is handled
• Organization maintains intellectual control over collection:
  • Staff builds strong knowledge of the content of the collection as it is being viewed and digitized
  • Collection description, inventory, and finding aids are developed by community members who best understand the collection

Disadvantages of in-house and community digitization include:

• It may be more expensive to digitize small collections in-house.
• Some assets may require special treatment and intervention.
• Investment in equipment, technology, and staff training are required.

Perform a Cost Analysis

In order to determine whether or not to use a vendor, you will want to perform a simple cost analysis to find out which will cost less, and what the advantages and disadvantages will be for both in-house and out-of-house digitization.  A cost analysis is an estimate. The actual cost of the project can change depending on many factors, such as actual tape duration, the level of decay of the analog assets, and other unknowns. Still, the cost analysis is vital in determining what path is best for your collection.

The following steps are a guide to preparing a cost estimate.

Get and Use Collection Data

In order to perform a cost analysis, you will need at least an estimate of the following data points:

• The number of assets you have
• The formats of the assets
• The footage (for film) and the duration (for magnetic media)^[1]
• The general condition of the collection/ if any items have outstanding issues such as mold

If you do not have collection data, you can perform a collection inventory.

Get Estimates from Vendors

Once you have your essential collection data, you can contact several vendors to receive a digitization estimate. Provide the vendor with as much detail as you can; specify the format and duration of each asset and include any condition notes you can provide.

It is important that items have unique identifiers on the physical object and in your collection inventory. This helps you track specific assets and can later be used in the digital file name to refer back to the analog asset. You can print your own unique identifier labels using small return address labels or you can order them from a sticker vendor.

Vendors usually charge by the foot (for film) or by the number of hours of content (for magnetic media). When recording length is unknown they generally charge for the maximum duration of the carrier.

Vendors will need to know what deliverables you expect, such as access files, metadata, and checksums, as well as what your target digitization file formats will be. You can consult with a vendor and with archivists to determine a target file that meets archival standards for quality and also meets your budget and storage needs.

Once you have several estimates from vendors, you can choose the vendor that best meets your needs and compare their quote to your estimate of the cost to perform digitization in-house.

Estimate the cost to perform digitization in-house

You can use your collection data to determine the cost to digitize your collection in-house. To create a simple estimate, use the following calculation:

• Number of hours of footage multiplied by 3 (for each hour of content, assume you will need 2 hours for project management and quality control)
• Hourly wage of staff to perform digitization
• The cost of digitization equipment:
  • Analog decks (for magnetic media)
  • Film scanner (for film)
  • Computers for ingest and/or file processing
  • Analog to digital converter
  • Time base corrector (TBC)
  • Scopes
• The cost of supplies
• The cost to clean, repair, and maintain equipment

Performing digitization in-house means having or being willing and able to invest in the acquisition of necessary resources (equipment, software) and support staff training or the hiring of new staff. One of the biggest challenges to digitizing collections in-house is finding and maintaining legacy equipment. New film scanners can be purchased, but no new equipment or parts are made to play back magnetic media. Your organization may have playback equipment or may need to purchase it- either way equipment needs to be tested and regularly maintained. This means you will also need a technician on hand in case you run into any technical issues. You will also need to find legacy equipment in good condition.

When considering in-house digitization, factor in that there is a significant learning curve to operating and maintaining legacy equipment. If you are willing to undertake these challenges, in-house digitization has many benefits.

Compare your estimates

Once you have vendor estimates and your own, in-house estimates, compare the two. Cost is not the only factor when determining how to digitize.

Review your organization’s mission and goals and determine if your approach to digitization is in line with these. Performing digitization in-house can build staff skills, build knowledge about the collection content, and keep collections within your organization. Community-based digitization efforts can share resources, build a local network, and inspire your community.

Using a vendor can create valuable connections and provide expertise for complex projects like photochemical preservation or digitization of heavily deteriorated items that you may not be able to work with in-house.

Review the following financial factors:

• Which estimate is a lower cost per hour of A/V material?
• A vendor estimate will only cover the cost of the vendor to perform the digitization. Be sure to factor in the cost to your organization to perform project administration and quality control. Add one to two hours per hour of content to the vendor estimate to see the true cost of the project.

Review the following non-financial factors:

• Is it within your organization’s mission statement to build staff skills and grow the organization through initializing in-house digitization? Does digitizing in-house further that mission?
• Is the cost difference significant enough to risk the assets being in the hands of a vendor, even one with a good reputation?
• Does the administration of my organization understand the staff time necessary to oversee a vendor-based project?
• Can you work collaboratively with other organizations to share resources?

If you determine that you will work with a vendor for your digitization project, the following sections will help you move forward.

Choosing A Vendor

If you decide to use a vendor, consider three factors:  quality, speed, and affordability. How important is each factor to you?

Vendors: Low Level, Mid Level, and High Level Preservation

Low level vendors like Costco can provide quick and fast reference copies, but the real value of digitization is compromised because these vendors do not digitize at a high quality level. Cheap and fast digitization can mean that you lose a great deal of information that is vital to the value of the collection. For example, low quality digitized files may not capture written signs, newspaper headlines, facial expressions, and other information. Low quality digitized files produce footage that is unsuitable for many creative works or research.  Additionally, low level vendors perform mass digitization that puts assets at risk- unmonitored digitization can result in permanent damage to audiovisual assets.

Mid level vendors may provide a good transfer at a lower cost that can be used in later works. If inspection and inventory determines that assets in your collection are in decent condition, and do not require close monitoring, mid level vendors can be an affordable option.

High level digitization may provide the best quality at a high cost. These vendors can be used for your most unique and valuable material, but may not be right if you are digitizing collections that were not originally shot at high resolution or intended for aesthetic use. High level digitization vendors are especially suited for working with extremely endangered formats, damaged audiovisual assets, or complex media such as multi-channel video or for photochemical preservation.

Vendor Experience and Your Experience

You should feel comfortable communicating with a vendor and with the information and feedback you receive. Is the vendor quick to respond? Does their response answer your questions and provide you with necessary information? How does that information compare with your own research? Does the vendor ask you questions or provide guidance that helps you understand your choices better? Have your colleagues had a good experience with a vendor?  You should feel free to see examples of the vendor’s work or to ask for a sample (even if you pay for the sample) of how their work compares with the work of other vendors.

Working with a Vendor

Determine Your Deliverables

You have decided to use a vendor to perform digitization of a few complex assets, or you have decided to send your project out-of-house for all digitization. What can you expect from a vendor?

Examples of what vendors do:

• Film Inspection and cleaning
• Special Services (film repair, mold remediation, magnetic media repair)
• Digitization
• Production of derivative files (access files)
• Quality control of files
• Production of metadata
• Production of checksums

Be sure to determine exactly what you expect of a vendor, and exactly what steps will be taken if the vendor does not deliver those expectations.

Write a Contract and Work order

See the “CAW sample work order” for a template that can help you get started. The work order should outline how long the project will take, how much it will cost, and how the vendor will communicate any changes as they arise. Additionally, your contract should detail packing and delivery methods for your collection to be transported.

Determine how your files will be delivered

Once digitization is completed by the vendor, request your digital files for review. Smaller files may be delivered via the cloud or an online transfer service. If you have large files and / or a slower internet connection, your vendor can send the files to you on a hard drive. While hard drives should not be your only file storage method, they can be convenient for delivery of files, and they can be kept to serve as backup storage.

Performing Quality Control

After files are delivered, your staff will need to perform quality control. This can be as simple as reviewing the beginning, middle, and end of a file. You can also use tools such as QC Tools. Your original audiovisual assets should not be returned until your organization has performed quality control and approved the quality of digitization. If you find errors in digitization you can request that the vendor make a second attempt at digitization.

Summary

Digitization has many advantages in access, skill improvement, and preservation. It opens up your collection for use in research and creative projects. It helps your organization to meet its mission. It provides access that supports your fundraising and advocacy efforts.

But digitization is not the end of the preservation process– it is just the beginning. Digital files need to be stored, maintained, and cared for as analog objects are. See the Store and Maintain section of this Toolkit for pointers on basic digital file storage advice.