Disposal of Documents After Mass Digitisation
Ville Kajanne · 2024
The paper focuses on how a reliable implementation model, a meaningful schedule and a reasonable cost structure in terms of long-term digital preservation and usability of digital manifestations can be implemented in a large-scale digitisation production. Not all records are suitable for large-scale mass digitisation. The fragile condition of the material, its cultural-historical value or restricted personal data may be grounds for exclusion from the service. By exclusion, worst risk scenarios regarding disposal-oriented digitisation can be dealt with. Production can be effective and credible only if the material has been carefully reviewed, e. g. through pilot test production. This applies to both cost structure and qualitative target points. Competent staff can increase autonomy as turnkey solutions often do not exist and cut ongoing maintenance costs. Image quality, content recognition, file format and archival transfer package are key requirements but achieving them in a large-scale production requires sophisticated and both automated and human-based implementations throughout the digitisation process. The final disposal process requires quality control checkpoints at various stages of the digitisation process, complemented by customer testing of the access files and a secure disposal procedure. This chapter focuses on the digitisation of the official documents created by ministries or other central government agencies. Documents with no cultural-historical value (typically less than hundred-year-old documents) are digitised in the mass digitisation process and disposed after that. Documents with cultural-historical value (typically more than hundred-year-old documents) are digitised in the retroactive digitisation process. In both cases the digital manifestations of these documents will be archived permanently.