Preparing Collections for Digitization accomplishes what it sets out to do: instruct collection managers in preparing original materials for scanning. The book’s focus is narrower than the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)’s “Preservation and Selection for Digitization” leaflet and “Digital Directions” workshop, as well as the Council on Library and Information Resources’ (CLIR) Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization: A White Paper.1 The book’s authors, preservation specialists at the National Archives UK, provide a more thorough treatment of collection surveys and actions required to handle specific types of document formats, fastenings, and damage than the aforementioned resources. Unlike the NEDCC leaflet, however, the authors focus exclusively on print (paper-based) materials; unlike “Digital Directions” and the CLIR report, the authors do not provide detailed information about other phases of the digitization workflow, such as metadata creation, database and webpage design, and preservation of digital files. They are careful to stress that digitization is not preservation, though providing access to a digital surrogate reduces handling of originals, thereby mitigating wear-and-tear on originals. This book’s primary value is to advise digitization staff on how to minimize potential damage to originals during the scanning process. Given the authors’ expertise and their thorough review of the international literature, including publications from the United Kingdom, United States, the Netherlands, and Australia, Bülow and Ahmon are well qualified to provide such guidance.

The authors begin by placing their topic in the context of the four phases of digitization: selection and preparation of materials; creation of digital files and associated metadata; provision of access to the digital files; and long-term sustainability (10–13). Subsequent chapters, however, concentrate only on the first two phases, with emphasis firmly placed on preparation of original materials.

In the sections and chapters of the book not dealing with document preparation, concepts are explained, but decisions are deferred to institutions. For example, the authors emphasize that the selection of materials to digitize needs to align with the priorities and policies of the institution. After ownership, copyright, and data sensitivity issues have been addressed, however, content, demand, and condition are recommended by the authors as leading selection criteria. A chapter authored by Ross Spencer, “The Digital Image,” defines and describes file formats, resolution, bit and color depth, color management, archival and service copies, image enhancement and positioning, and compression, but does not endorse formats or settings because institutions must make decisions based on their own needs. While this logic is valid, I found myself wishing that the general guidelines available in the back of the book were located at the end of this chapter, since the authors could have drawn more attention to best practices without explicitly endorsing any of them. Although the chapter “Equipment for Image Capture” handily explains the suitability of scanners for certain types of documents, I would have found the information more useful in chart format.

Charts and illustrations are generously supplied in the chapters that dig into preservation issues: “Preparation of Document Formats and Fastenings” and “Preparation of Damaged Documents.” For example, “Summary of options for removing fastenings” (117) and “Types of damage and who would deal with it” (139), with their accompanying narrative and illustrations, explain preservation to a level of specificity that could be very helpful in training employees to deal with fragile materials.

Surveying collections also is covered with greater specificity than most other topics, both because the process is mostly uniform regardless of institution size, equipment, and document types, and because it appears to be an area of expertise of the co-authors. Some survey questions deal with specific types of damage, which may affect scanning decisions.

Other topics covered in broader strokes provide helpful tips, although charts and samples of forms the authors suggest would have been welcome. The authors’ general overview of factors to consider when deciding whether to outsource scanning or do the work in-house, and whether scanning by a vendor should be done off-site versus on-site, includes some useful tips for environmental conditions, transport and tracking, and incident plans and security. Their recommendation to conduct pilot studies to develop method for conservation treatment and estimate treatment time per item is wise. The chapter “Setting Up the Imaging Environment” offers guidelines about workspace design, and refers to instructions and restrictions typically in place for researchers in a special collections reading room (e.g., no eating and drinking, no ink), suggesting that those same rules should apply to the space where scanning occurs.

This book, with its common-sense recommendations and practical emphasis, seems tailor-made for smaller cultural heritage organizations that are late adopters of digitization, although the authors’ repeated use of terms such as “conservators” assumes that their readers’ institutions are more heavily staffed. Moreover, the authors’ exclusive focus on paper-based documents, of which the National Archives UK’s fine collections provide a wide variety, may not match the actual formats and accompanying condition problems encountered by smaller institutions.

At times the emphasis on conservation reads as defensive, justifying its necessity despite (or because) funds are shifting increasingly toward digitization activities. While the authors’ arguments for a continued need for conservation/preservation specialists are valid, they are also somewhat shortsighted. For example, I wondered why “More Product, Less Process” (MPLP), a minimal processing trend initially described and advocated by Greene and Meissner in an American Archivist article, was not cited.2 Its absence may be due in part to the British-centric nature of Preparing Collections for Digitization, since MPLP’s traction is primarily in the United States. I sense, however, that MPLP was avoided because it contrasts so starkly with the authors’ justification of conservation. Digital preservation also is notably absent from this book. The authors are cognizant of the need to consider digital preservation as an aspect of the long-term sustainability of any digitization project or program, because “preservation benefits of online access will only last as long as the digital images are available for online users” (12). Yet they do not address digital preservation solutions, instead devoting several pages to a defense of microfilm as a preservation medium. Preparing Collections for Digitization provides more detail about the specifics of preparing paper-based materials for scanning than other available resources, but readers looking for specific information about other aspects of digitization will be disappointed.