The Rise of Digitization
Melissa Terras · SensePublishers eBooks · 2011
Prior to digitisation, the retrieving and re-filing of the prints consumed staff time. Batches of prints to be re-filed hung round on trolleys like patients in a busy A&E Department. The sight of a pink print request form approaching the Local Studies counter caused the heart to sink - it foretold at least half an hour wrestling with ancient filing cabinets, not to mention the wait for the notorious Central Library lift. And what could be more dispiriting, for staff and customer, to discover that the prints selected from the card index were not what were wanted at all? The idea of digitising the Print Collection was very attractive. It would reduce the wear and tear on the original prints and transform public access by allowing customers to browse the whole collection (Moorhouse 2004, 62). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.