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The Library of Michigan supports digitization efforts throughout the state by offering resources to libraries. Resources include consulting, equipment access, funding opportunities, and more.
Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)
Michigan eLibrary (MeL) Information
History of the Library of Michigan
Press releases courtesy of library staff and the Michigan Department of Education.
State Librarian/State Librarian's Excellence Award
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The Library of Michigan supports digitization efforts throughout the state by providing consulting for libraries and cultural heritage institutions. While we do not digitize materials for you, we have many resources available to help guide your digitization initiatives. Click here to sign up for the Digital Digest newsletter!
Consulting - Biz Gallo, Statewide Digitization Initiatives Coordinator, provides consulting on digitization programming and resources for the state. Reach out to Biz at GalloB@michigan.gov or 517-335-1402.
Training - The Library of Michigan hosts monthly webinars as part of its Digitization Basics series. Visit the Continuing Education Opportunities page to register for classes, which will be held the last Tuesday of every month starting January 2022.
Digital Hosting - If you are interested in having your collections hosted on the Library of Michigan's digital platform, fill out this digital hosting request form.
Kits - Digitization Kits are now available to borrow for small-scale digitization projects at your library! Kits include everything needed to digitize most materials, from scanners to laptops and software. Click here to learn more about Digitization Kits and reserve one today!
Grants - The Library of Michigan administers LSTA funds to support library, museum, and information services, including digitization. Find more information about LSTA grant funding here.
The Library of Michigan also partners with the following organizations to preserve and make accessible collections from the Great Lakes State.
The Michigan Service Hub aims to extend and enrich the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) with the state of Michigan's many digital cultural resources. The Michigan Service Hub aggregates content from a variety of partners through a series of regional hubs in Michigan. Regional hubs collect metadata from libraries, archives, historical societies and museums in their area, and share that data with the DPLA.
Michigan Memories provides access to collections from cultural institutions throughout the state of Michigan. These collections are created and maintained by archivists, librarians, and curators who are dedicated to the preservation of Michigan's history and heritage. Michigan Memories celebrates the diverse voices and communities of our state and serves to inform and enlighten students, teachers, genealogists, history buffs, and everyone with an interest in the Great Lakes State.
Michigan Digital Preservation Network
Michigan Digital Preservation Network (MDPN) is a member-governed, collaborative organization dedicated to preserving Michigan's digital cultural heritage materials and leveraging our shared resources to make digital preservation accessible to all institutions.
Library of Michigan Digital (LMDigital) provides online access to uniquely Michigan materials including content digitized from our own collections, born-digital content captured from Michigan web publishers, and opportunities presented by partnerships and collaborations with individuals, groups and organizations interested in recording and promoting the Michigan story.
Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal
Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal (DMNP) is a comprehensive, publicly accessible, online tool available to researchers that identifies digital Michigan newspaper resources. With content from over 1,000 newspapers, all 83 Michigan counties are represented in this portal.
Mid Michigan Digital Practitioners
The Mid Michigan Digital Practitioners (MMDP) is a regional collective of librarians, archivists, museum curators, conservators, historians, scholars and more engaged in creating and curating digital collections in Mid-Michigan and the surrounding region. Its mission is to provide an open and local forum for conversation, collaboration and networking for professionals working with digital collections in Michigan.
The following sections provide additional resources for exploring digitization on your own:
If you are new to digitization, or just need a refresher, it can be useful to review terminology. Here are some helpful glossaries:
Adhering to standards and best practices is essential for ensuring quality, longevity, and interoperability of digital files. Take some time to review the following resources for standards and best practices:
While it may be tempting to jump right into the scanning stage, a lot of planning and preparation is needed before undertaking a digitization project. These helpful resources can make sure you are as prepared as possible before you start your project!
What are the cost considerations of digitization?
Remember that you will not only be storing the master files, but also duplicate copies and access copies of files. Estimate that access copies will be about 10% of the storage size of the master images. Use the tools below to help estimate the size, and therefore storage costs, of our digitized collections.
Should you digitize in-house or use a vendor? The following resources will help you weigh the pros and cons of each option and decide which option is best for your library.
If you decide to use a vendor, you can review sample Requests for Proposal and use them as a guide for creating your own.
If you decide to digitize in-house, here are some resources for finding the right scanning equipment for your library.
Whichever method you choose, the Library of Michigan encourages you to add your feedback via the following forms to help others by sharing your knowledge and experience. Please note, these resources are for information only. The Library of Michigan cannot endorse nor recommend specific vendors or brands. Libraries should contact vendors and other experts for advice and to ensure that their choice reflects the unique needs of that library.
Not everything should, or even could, be digitized. Time, funding, and storage capacity are all limited, so how do you decide where to spend your precious resources? The following tools will help you in selecting material for digitization.
Audiovisual materials (audio, video, and film) have additional preservation considerations due to equipment availability and format obsolescence. These resources will help you prioritize and plan digitization of AV material.
These are resources for exploring copyright and how it my impact your digitization project. Remember to always contact your organization's legal counsel with specific questions or reach out to the Library of Michigan's Law Consultant Clare Membiela.
Statewide & Regional Grants
National Grants
Don't see a relevant grant resource listed here? Send grant information to Biz Gallo to include on the funding resource page!
Metadata, or information that describes data, comes in many types (such as descriptive, technical, and administrative) and flavors (such as Dublin Core, MODS, and METS). Good metadata is essential for ensuring access to and long-term stewardship of your collections. Below are resources for understanding and assigning good metadata to your digital collections.
Quality control is an important part of the digitization process as it allows you to identify errors (such as blurry images, incorrect filenaming or directory structure, or missed pages), as well as ensure that images meet specifications (resolution, file format, color profile, etc.). The following resources will give you an overview of quality control measures to implement in your digitization project process.
One of the key drivers behind digitization is to improve and enable access to materials. Make sure that access to your digitized collections is part of your project plan using the resources below:
Digital preservation is key to ensuring access to your digital materials over time. These resources will help you manage the activities necessary to maintain your digital files for as long as necessary:
Updated 4/06/2022