Shan Sutton

Associate Dean & Head of Special Collections

University of the Pacific Library

Stockton, California

The John Muir Papers and MPLP:

Combining Boutique and Industrial Approaches to

Digitization

Standard levels of description should be less detailed to make more content available to users, although some materials merit exceptions.

Users prefer more content with less description.

Both of these concepts have encouraged archival self-reflection, and a shift from boutique to industrial digitization projects.

Basic MPLP Tenants for Digitization

BoutiqueSelective body of materialHigh quality imagesExtensive description/interpretation

IndustrialLarge body of materialLower quality imagesMinimal description/interpretation

Boutique vs. Industrial Digitization

The John Muir Papers

Images: Boutique in choosing to scan originals instead of microfilm, and only selecting photos that include Muir.

Metadata: Industrial in using pre-existing descriptions only, no additional analysis or description.

Muir Photographs

Images: Boutique in choosing to scan originals instead of microfilm, industrial in digitizing all 78 journals.

Metadata: Industrial in using pre-existing titles only, no additional analysis or descriptions (including no abstracts and transcriptions).

Muir Journals

Images: Boutique in choosing to scan originals instead of microfilm.

Metadata: Industrial in using pre-existing titles only, no additional analysis or description.

Muir Drawings

Images: Industrial in scanning microfilm.

Metadata: Industrial in using pre-existing descriptions on sender, recipient, date, location, but boutique in creating transcriptions.

Muir Correspondence

Look for opportunities to incorporate industrial processes, especially in image creation.

Reserve boutique treatment for material that truly merits the investment.

Both approaches may be applied within the same collection when appropriate.

Final Thoughts on MPLP and Digitization

It’s clearly cheaper and faster to scan and describe collections to less detailed levels, but is the loss of quality in image and metadata worth it in meeting user needs?

Are different audiences served by boutique vs. industrial digitization?

Final Thoughts on MPLP and Digitization