Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Archives At The Tip Of Their Fingers: Exploring User Reactions To Large-Scale Digitization, Emily Lapworth, Su Kim Chung

Library Faculty Publications

Advances in digital image capture technology and the adoption of More Product, Less Process methods have resulted in special collections and archives large- scale digitization that creates a new kind of digital surrogate. Mirroring and reusing aggregate archival arrangement and description, these digital surrogates represent multiple items and are minimally described as a whole. The authors conducted interviews to explore user reactions to this digitization method at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This study found that large-scale digitization does have a positive impact for users, although additional strategies may be required to maximize the usefulness of the resulting digital …