Guidelines for using digitisation as a sustainable method of preservation at the University of Zimbabwe library

Abstract

This mini-dissertation reports on the guidelines for digitisation that were developed for the University of Zimbabwe Library. A literature study and an empirical investigation were done in order to come up with the guidelines. The literature study was primarily used to inform the researcher on those aspects of digitisation for which guidelines could be developed. A qualitative research design was adopted in this study. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from five South African institutions that are involved in digitisation. Digitisation managers from the five institutions were interviewed in this study. The data from the interviews and the literature study were used to come up with the proposed guidelines for digitisation at the University of Zimbabwe Library. The guidelines that were developed as a result of this study specifically address digitisation standards and best practices, technologies for digitisation, costs and sustainability of digitisation, intellectual property issues, steps in digitisation, challenges in digitisation and the selection of materials for digitisation. Although some of the respondents expressed that digitisation can be used as a sustainable method of preservation, this research could not demonstrate that current practices would be reliable in the long term.