DIGITIZATION PROJECT PROPOSAL

Selector/Proposer:   __________________________

Holding Library/Dept:     _______________________

Collection Title/Project Name:  __________________

1. Nature of Digitization Project
1. Briefly describe the materials to be digitized, including their subject or discipline-related content, chronological or geographical coverage, languages and character sets, etc.
2.  [Optional: Indicate whether the project assumes external funding or should be considered for accomplishing in-house with existing staff resources; indicate too whether the project might be considered a demonstration project for the purposes of attracting funding for a larger project.]
3. Describe the priority this project has relative to other possible projects in your area by selecting one of the following options:
   ___ Immediate  ___ Short-Term  ___ Medium-Term  ___ Long-Term
   
   
2. Scope of Digitization
1. Specify the types/genres and amount of material to be digitized (e.g., 10 volumes amounting to ca. 1800 pages of text, ca. 100 volumes amounting to ca. 30,000 pages of text with many black and white illustrations,  2 folio volumes of ca. 400 pages with ca. 150 oversized color images)
2. For textual materials, indicate whether they will be also need to be OCR'd and presented as searchable text, or whether page images only are needed.
3.  [Optional :For other materials, please indicate any requirements or assumptions about the quality of scans, derivatives, indexing, etc.]
   
   
3. Value to Columbia Libraries Collections
1. How would this project strengthen, complement or otherwise relate to existing paper (etc.) or digital collections at CUL?   
2. Does this material relate to the collection development policies of the holding library or the Libraries as a whole?
3. Are there other comparable or related digital collections already available publicly?  
   
   
4. Value to Columbia Research & Teaching
1. How would this project serve current, recognized research, study or curricular needs of Columbia?
2. Which Columbia faculty members work in the area covered by this project?   Have they indicated they would make use of these materials, or materials of this type, in digitized form?
   
   
5. Partnerships
1. Are there other Columbia groups that we can or should partner with in this type of project?  
2. Are there other institutions that are particularly strong in these or related materials that we can or should partner with?
   
   
6. Cataloging / Metadata
1. Have these materials been cataloged, described in a finding aid, or have another kind of metadata? Please describe and include links or CLIO record IDs to cataloging or finding aids if available.
2. [Optional:  If not, please give details of type and amount of cataloging / description being proposed within the context of this grant and how it would be accomplished.]
   
   
7. Rights / Permissions
1. Identify copyright issues and other potential restrictions. Are these materials in the public domain? Does Columbia hold rights for copying and dissemination?  (If you are not sure of the answers to the preceding, what percentage of the material was published prior to 1923?  What percentage between 1923 and 1963?)
2. Optional: Describe approach to resolving or managing these restrictions within the context of the project.]
   
   
8. Physical Condition
1. Are the physical items intact, in good condition, and playable (where appropriate, e.g. videotapes)?
2. Optional: If not, describe in general terms what types of physical problems are present.]
3. Are the materials appropriately housed, or will rehousing be part of the project? [Optional: Will any conservation treatment or other physical work be needed to enable the materials to be digitized? For instance, it may not be possible to digitize a book that is tightly bound and has narrow margins without disbinding it.]
   
   
4. For archival and manuscript collections, have the materials been fully processed and arranged?