Preparing for a Digitization Project

Considering a project to digitize records? Before you can start scanning, you have some decisions to make.

Identify what you want to scan

Make sure you scan the records that will give you the best return for your investment. Consider what you want to scan, and which should be prioritized.

A tool to help you decide what to scan is your retention schedule - the document that lays out which of your records are permanent or non-permanent and how long you need to keep them. This will help you avoid scanning records whose reference value has ended or is soon to end. Want to know more about retention schedules? See our guidance page here.

Decide what product you want

Once you decide what you want to scan, you have more decisions to make. Some examples:

What image format do you want (pdf, tif, etc)?
How do you want images organized?
Do you need full color scanning or are shades of gray good enough?
How do you want the images named?
Is there any metadata that you want attached to the images?
Are the images going into a management system that has its own image requirements?

Maryland State Archives (MSA) scanning standards are available here.
For more examples of digitization considerations for paper records, see our detailed list here.

Assess what preparation is needed

Most records need to be prepared before they can be scanned. For example:

Flattening folded records
Removing fasteners, like staples, binder clips, and rubber bands
Creating inventories/document lists at the level you want to digitize

You will need to decide if your staff will do this work or if you want to pay a vendor to include these tasks as part of the digitization project.

Select a vendor

Make sure the vendor can meet all of your requirements, including any preparation work not done by your staff. Information on the Maryland State Archives' digitization services are available here.

Please remember any permanent records that are scanned will eventually be transferred to the Maryland State Archives (MSA) and should meet MSA scanning standards.

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