Service Example: Electronic Scriptorium is providing finding aid conversion services to one of the largest private archives in the world. Electronic Scriptorium’s multi-year engagement converts paper-based finding aids to electronic form using a commercial archives automation package. Electronic Scriptorium’s conversion staff received extensive training form the professional staff at the archives that enabled proper interpretation of the paper-based records. The training allows Electronic Scriptorium to make technical decisions about the finding aids thereby increasing efficiency and reducing the decision-making burden the professional archives staff.

Service Example: When three colleges merged their libraries into a single collection in an effort to reduce costs the technical staff encountered an overwhelming problem. Due to different cataloging practices at the individual colleges nearly 200,000 records in the new 800,000 record union catalog were duplicates. Unfortunately the duplicate records were not easily identifiable thus ruling out a computer-based de-duplication approach. Electronic Scriptorium developed a series of manual review processes that were supplemented by custom MARC record utility programs. Electronic Scriptorium’s custom approach identified nearly 95% of the duplicate titles in the union catalog.

Service Example: A major research library contracted Electronic Scriptorium to catalog its rare book and manuscript collection. Much of the collection dated from the 16th and 17th centuries. Electronic Scriptorium worked with the collection staff librarians to develop comprehensive cataloging specifications to govern the collection cataloging. While the cataloging specifications generally followed Library of Congress cataloging practices, modifications were made to accommodate the library’s local practices and cataloging conventions. Bibliographic records were created from the original card catalog and copies of title page and verso. The final bibliographic database was delivered in MARC21 format and uploaded into a national bibliographic utility.

Service Example: A specialty financial services provider desired to upgrade its large financial forms database. By converting the forms to a modern XML-based format the firm anticipated significant processing efficiencies over its present operations. Electronic Scriptorium worked with the financial services provider to develop specialized form processing tools. The forms processing manual tool set was used in conjunction with automated processes to convert the entire forms library to the desired format. The new XML-based forms were then distributed to financial clients across the U.S. and providing a modern web-based data collection platform significantly more efficient than its software predecessor.

Service Example: A national art museum holds the personal papers of the museum’s original founders. Many of the founders donated paintings and other works from their private art collections to form the nucleus of the museum’s initial collection. The founding member’s personal papers provide important documentary information about the item’s historic value and provenance. The museum selected Electronic Scriptorium to convert the finding aid collection to EAD format. Electronic Scriptorium analyzed the finding aids then developed the XML and XSL templates used for the project.

Service Example: A well known service organization converted the home of its founder into a museum and archive used to house the organizations historical artifacts and papers. Electronic Scriptorium converted the finding aids for the founder’s paper using commercial museum automation software selected by the museum staff. Electronic Scriptorium’s finding aid expertise allowed it to assist in standardizing the finding aids (which varied in style and format) during the conversion process.

Service Example: A small Midwest college library selected Electronic Scriptorium as its retrospective conversion partner. Due to budget limitations the university needed to convert its collection over several fiscal years. Electronic Scriptorium worked with the library staff to design a phased conversion approach that complied with the library’s requirements. After designing local holdings fields and processing specifications Electronic Scriptorium provided MARC21 records for each item in the library’s shelf list. Since the library was a member of a multi-library consortium Electronic Scriptorium directed its Z39-50 based MARC record retrieval software to search the consortia databases first when attempting to locate a “copy” record. This approach significantly reduced the library’s overall conversion costs while simultaneously improving the library’s confidence in the overall quality of its database.

Service Example: Electronic Scriptorium’s clients hold many valuable and irreplaceable assets. Electronic Scriptorium provides a range of custom preservation solutions to many of its clients. A multi-national publishing company presented a 19th century newspaper documenting a significant event in the company’s history. Electronic Scriptorium provided a high-resolution digital image of the newspaper page. Once the digital version of the object was verified several preservation processes were applied including cleaning, flattening, de-acidification and encasement in an acid-free envelope.