THE DIGIDOC-PROJECT DIGITISATION OF PARLIAMENTARY DOCUMENTS IN THE

THE DIGIDOC-PROJECT DIGITISATION OF PARLIAMENTARY DOCUMENTS IN THE BELGIAN PARLIAMENT PAUL SARENS 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels 1

P. O. D. - DIGIDOC-PROJECT n P. O. D. : Printing on demand rationalisation of printing and distribution of parliamentary publications selective distribution of documents “digitally born” documents from 1995 n Digidoc : digitisation of documents creation of a “digital library” historical documents (1831 -1995) logical complement to the P. O. D. -project 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 2

DIGITAL CHOICES TO MAKE n Publications with greatest legal and historic importance : Documents and Records of the House of Representatives and the Senate n Priority to the period 1945 -1995 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 3

DIGIDOC : 3 sections n Digidoc 1 : Documents and Records of the House of Representatives (1831 -1995) – 1. 370. 000 pages n Digidoc 2 : Documents and Records of the Senate (1831 -1995) – 627. 000 pages n Digidoc 3 : Moniteur belge (Statute Book) (1831 -1997) – 1. 400. 000 pages – Cooperation with the Justice Department 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 4

DIGIDOC : 4 objectives n Archiving n Retrieval n Digitisation n Reproduction 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 5

FILM FIRST APPROACH n Recommended in 1992 by the Commission on Preservation and Access n Standard in the world of preservation n Microfilm as preservation tool for the long term n Digitisation of microfilm as access tool 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 6

BENEFITS OF THE HYBRID APPROACH n Microfilm captures content in an integral and authentic way n Microfilm as analogue back-up for restoration n No considerable higher cost price n Microfilming is safer for damaged paper n Scanning of microfilm : no quality loss 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 7

LONG TERM PRESERVATION n “Digitally born” documents converted to microfilm COM-computer output to microfilm n Two copies of every digitised document printed on permanent paper and stored on different locations 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 8

OPERATIONAL REALISATION OF THE PROJECT n Cooperation between 3 Departments : General Affairs, Computer Department, Library n Library : Studio for micrographic & electronic archiving two operators, two clerks two microfilmscanners Bell & Howell 3000 D scanning at 400 dpi TIFF CITT group 4, conversion to PDF Image capture software : Powerfilm 4. 1. 2 (Infocap) n Guidance committee to monitor the project 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 9

OUTSOURCING MICROFILMING n 3. 400. 000 pages to microfilm n General call for proposals n Dutch film Microformat systems n Reliable quality n Masterfilms : panchromatic halogensilverfilm (neg. pol. ) n Usercopies : negative diazofilm 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 10

OUTSOURCING DIGITISATION MICROFILMS Decision of College of Quaestors Documents House of Representatives 1832 -1974 Limited request for proposals 6 candidatures, 1 company remained Test : digitisation of images and introduction metadata n Margin of error widely exceeded : tender invalid n Conclusion : private companies have no practice with parliamentary documents (scanning OK, metadata problematic) n n n 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 11

QUO VADIS DIGIDOC ? n Insuccessful outsourcing : loss of time, but instructive experience n Some parts of the project can better be done “in house” n Priority to the Documents and Records (1945 -1995) of the House and the Senate n Introduction of keywords and Optical Character Recognition need further consideration n Objective : make this important parliamentary information accessible to the general public 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels - Paul Sarens 12

Thank you for your attention Paul SARENS 31 May 2002 ECPRD seminar in Brussels 13