Digitization with Digital Production Services
This workshop was part of the 2025-26 Digital Practice Workshop Series, an ongoing collaboration between the Centers for Digital Scholarship (CDS) and Humanities Center that centers topics related to digital archives and digital humanities. The series is intended to strengthen collaborations between Snell Library and CSSH.
On April 1, 2026, Digital Production Librarian Kimberly Kennedy led a fascinating and informative digitization workshop for Boston-area students, faculty, and staff. From microfilm to manuscripts, the in-person session highlighted tools and best practices for individuals and project teams seeking to digitize, preserve, and share physical materials.
Kennedy began by explaining that digitization processes start long before the act of scanning and uploading items.. She outlined key steps to take, including creating or refining an inventory, determining usage rights, and confirming funding sources. In particular, she emphasized that establishing an inventory (name, format, amount, unique identifiers, and notes) is a crucial first step for any digitization project.
The workshop also detailed digitization equipment options. Kennedy described the benefits of using flatbed scanners (also known as desktop scanners), namely that they are relatively inexpensive and easy to use, albeit slower than other scanners. She also shared that sheetfed scanners are fast, relatively compact, and efficient, but are not ideal for delicate material. Planetary scanners (overhead with mounted cameras) are relatively expensive but useful for books and oversized materials. Additionally, camera-based scanning systems are more accessible and portable. Slide scanners (small devices that scan 35mm slides and negatives) allow for light to pass through transparency, while dedicated film scanners specifically handle materials such as microfilm.
In addition to presenting scanner options, Kennedy emphasized the importance of maintaining scanning equipment with optic cleaning fluids, anti-static brushes, and lint-free cleaning cloths. She also noted that while handling materials with bare hands is relatively safe in many cases, finger oils can damage emulsions when working with photographic materials. Kennedy’s careful presentation of scanner types and maintenance gave attendees a comprehensive vision of options for their own initiatives and projects.
Delving into scanning processes, Kennedy described resolution terms and specifications for different types of material. Specifically, she recommended 300-400 PPI (pixels per inch) for text-based material and 300-600 PPI for photographs. On a smaller scale, Kennedy suggested 3000-4000 PPI for slides and negatives due to their size. For more detailed digitization guidelines, she recommended FADGI (Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative), as well as Metamorfoze’s Preservation Imaging Guidelines. Kennedy also discussed the range of scanning difficulty between materials: Audiovisual (AV) material is technically more difficult, and at times more expensive, to digitize than written material and photographs.
The workshop mitigated a portion of that difficulty by presenting best practice for digitizing AV materials specifically: For audio materials, WAV files are the standard archival format as they are uncompressed and allow for embedded metadata, increasing the probability of long-term preservation. However, MP3 files (smaller and easier to share) are more common for repositories and projects that prioritize download and delivery– Northeastern’s own Digital Repository Service (DRS) requests and displays MP3 files.
When working with film, JPEG 2000 in MXF (material exchange format) compresses losslessly and is utilized by the Library of Congress, but it is technically and financially more difficult to implement. FFV1 in MKV (Matroska), is a lossless, open standard that is becoming more frequently used by archives and library institutions. For access and sharing, however, compressed formats such as H.264 in MP4 or MOV are acceptable in many cases.
After outlining scanning and material digitization steps, Kennedy provided invaluable insights into the post-digitization process of working with materials. She explained that projects should take care to determine their preferred balance between preservation (higher quality, larger files) and access (compressed files that are easier to share). Further, once digitized materials are scanned as files, a consistent and uniform file naming schema –alphanumeric with underscores– is vital.
Digitization projects are not limited to institutions and Kennedy’s workshop captured the range of initiatives that one can pursue, whether that’s digitizing a box of family photographs or creating a digital archive of historical manuscripts. If you are interested in learning more about digital scholarship happenings at Northeastern, you can find additional workshops and events on the CDS Events page.