Book Conservation and Digitization

The Challenges of Dialogue and Collaboration
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64189-053-3
Verlag: Amsterdam University Press

Buch, Englisch, 316 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Collection Development, Cultural Heritage, and Digital Humanities

The successful transmediation of books and documents through digitization requires the synergetic partnership of many professional figures, that have what may sometimes appear as contrasting goals at heart. On one side, there are those who look after the physical objects and strive to preserve them for future generations, and on the other those involved in the digitization of the objects, the information that they contain, and the management of the digital data. These complementary activities are generally considered as separate and when the current literature addresses both fields, it does so strictly within technical reports and guidelines, concentrating on procedures and optimal workflow, standards, and technical metadata. In particular, more often than not, conservation is presented as ancillary to digitization, with the role of the conservator restricted to the preparation of items for scanning, with no input into the digital product, leading to misunderstanding and clashes of interests. Surveying a variety of projects and approaches to the challenging conservation-digitization balance and fostering a dialogue amongst practitioners, this book aims at demonstrating that a dialogue between apparently contrasting fields not only is possible, but it is in fact desirable and fruitful. Only through the synergetic collaboration of all people involved in the digitization process, conservators included, can cultural digital objects that represent more fully the original objects and their materiality be generated, encouraging and enabling new research and widening the horizons of scholarship.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Campagnolo, Alberto

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Bibliothekswesen, Informationswissenschaften Archivierung, Konservierung & Digitalisierung
• Interdisziplinäres Bibliothekswesen, Informationswissenschaften Buchgeschichte, Bibliotheksgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

Part One: Books as Objects and Their Digitization

Chapter 1: Understanding the Artifactual Value of Books

Chapter 2: Conservation and Digitization: A Difficult Balance?

Part Two Conservation and Digitization in Practice

Chapter 3: Conservation towards Large-Scale Digitization at the Vatican Library, Ángela Núñez Gaitán, Head of Conservation, Vatican Apostolic Library

Chapter 4: Large-Scale Digitization at The National Archives, Catt Baum, formerly Senior Conservation Manager—Digitization Services, The National Archives

Chapter 5: British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership and the Digitization Project: A Case Study about Conservation Processes within Mass Digitization of Library Material, Flavio Marzo, formerly Conservation Manager, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership, British Library

Chapter 6: The Digitization of Medieval Western Manuscripts at the Wellcome Library, Stefania Signorello, Conservator, Wellcome Library

Chapter 7: Caring for the Object during Digitization of Written Heritage: The Strategy of the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel, Almuth Corbach, Head of Collection Care and Conservation, Herzog August Bibliothek

Chapter 8: The Great Parchment Book Project, Caroline De Stefani, Conservation Studio Manager, and Philippa Smith, Head of Collections, London Metropolitan Archives

Chapter 9: The Development of the Language of Bindings Thesaurus, Athanasios Velios and Nicholas Pickwoad, Directors, Ligatus Research Centre, University of the Arts London

Chapter 10: Spectral Imaging to Aid Preservation and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Fenella G. France, Chief, Preservation Research and Testing Division, Library of Congress

Chapter 11: Multispectral Imaging for Special Collection Materials, Michael B. Toth, President and Chief Technology Officer, R. B. Toth Associates

Part Three: Conservators and Digitization Experts in Dialogue

Chapter 12: The Digitization of Manuscripts from the Point of View of a Book Conservator, Abigail B. Quandt, Head of Book and Paper Conservation, the Walters Art Museum

Chapter 13: Implementing Advanced Digital Imaging Research in Cultural Heritage: Building Relationships between Conservators and Computational Imaging Scientists, Melissa Terras, Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage, University of Edinburgh

Chapter 14: Coda: Concluding Thoughts on Digital Surrogates

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Campagnolo, Alberto
Dr. Alberto Campagnolo (PhD, Ligatus, University of the Arts London 2015) is a trained book conservator and digital humanist. Formerly a CLIR postdoctoral fellow in Data Curation at The Library of Congress (Washington DC), he is now adjunct professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Udine, Italy