Outsourcing the digitisation of audio or video

Before contacting potential contractors

Before approaching contractors, identify the following points, which might be outlined in a business case for digitisation or outsourcing:

• the drivers and benefits of digitisation
• the risks identified
• the scope, volume, and type of material selected for digitisation
• the condition of the material and whether conservation or cleaning is required prior to digitisation
• the digital formats and quality required
• stakeholder interests
• the metadata and documentation required
• ownership, copyright, privacy, and digital rights management issues
• quality control and assurance parameters
• insurance requirements for rare or valuable materials
• financial and human resource issues, including roles/skills of staff in monitoring the process.

Before choosing the contractor

Contractors should be assessed carefully by considering these questions:

• can you manage the range of analogue formats we need to digitise?
• are you able to provide the required digital formats (including suitable archival formats)?
• do you have experience with these materials/formats, particularly unique materials?
• what are your transportation and materials handling procedures? Is there an option to digitise on-site for rare materials?
• can you provide the required metadata and documentation?
• what quality control measures do you have? Do you agree to our proposed monitoring process?
• can we inspect samples of past work and contact clients for feedback?
• what are the costs and timeframes involved, and are we protected from unexpected expenses or delays?
• what are your backup and disaster recovery arrangements?

Inclusions in the contract

The contract should specify the following:

• roles and responsibilities
• costs, timeframes, and expectations, including protections against exceeding costs or missing deadlines
• transportation and materials handling requirements to prevent damage to the originals
• the range, type, and quantity of material to be digitised
• required digital formats, including preservation masters and enhanced/access copies
• specifications regarding compression (should be lossless for archival records)
• additional specifications such as sampling and bit rate
• the contractor's quality control procedures and our monitoring process
• metadata and documentation requirements
• ownership of all materials (for example, ownership remains with the State)
• arrangements for returning analogue and digital recordings
• backup and disaster recovery arrangements.