"Conservation for Digitisation" placement at the British Library

A unique aspect of the placement will be learning through a variety of effective methods as follows:

• Lectures on PowerPoint will be followed by more hands-on activities, including for instance condition assessment, handling, and conservation treatment sessions.
• Throughout the placement the participants will work on British Library collection items that will be selected to respond to their specific needs.
• Thereby, this teaching method will offer an opportunity to practice on problematics that the participants could realistically encounter in their collections and will offer solutions that are as much as possible tailored to their needs and applicable in their work context.
• The participants will also be able to benefit from the collaboration and expertise of many British Library professionals who collaborate with conservators during the digitisation process.

We are looking for conservators working in private and public archives in India who want to develop their skills and gain in-depth knowledge in conservation for digitisation.

Applicants should either have a formal qualification in conservation or can demonstrate a minimum of two years' practical experience in the conservation of library and archives collections. To be successful the participants will need to demonstrate how they will benefit from the placement and how they will share with colleagues in their sector what they have learned during the placement.

The placement will focus on the following topics, which constitute the backbone of any digitisation process:

• Selection of items process for digitisation with the involvement of conservation.
• Reasons for digitising items.
• Items condition assessment.
• Analysis of documentation produced during the projects.
• Practical treatments done before digitisation.
• Project management including workflow management and collaboration with stakeholders.

Just as important as the work to develop the collection is the careful preservation and conservation required to maintain its condition for future generations, as well as making it searchable and accessible online and through our Reading Rooms. In 2023–24, over 3,450 items were assessed and conserved for digitisation for both internal and external partnerships. The main purpose of the conservation team is custodianship of the collections; the team preserves collection items for as long as possible and contributes to making them accessible. Digitisation is one of the most effective ways we use to preserve our collections and enable access.

Many libraries and archives digitize their collections to increase access, virtually unify materials and/or collections with collections from other libraries, to increase income strain, reduce handling of original items, and create licensing agreements with publishing companies.

‘Conservation for Digitisation’ means that experienced professionals prepare collections for digitization and carry out specific parameters and a strict condition assessment of the items, to ensure that these are stable and will be safe going through the process.

The extent of conservation work needed depends on imaging methods, handling practices and items' vulnerability. A decision-tree system can be implemented to ensure the best outcome both for the item and the produced image.

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Our shelves hold over 170 million items – a living collection that grows every day. Although our roots extend back centuries, we collect everything written today, tomorrow, and decades into the future. We work with partners and other libraries to make sure that as many people as possible have the chance to use and explore our collection. From fostering an early love of learning with local schools, to livestreaming events for audiences joining us from across the United Kingdom, to helping researchers around the world find the information they need.

We work alongside partners all around the world toward shared goals of ensuring the preservation, conservation and dissemination of knowledge and heritage. One such project for the South Asia collections, the ‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’ (2CIP) project (2015–2022), was a major British Library research and digitisation project generously funded by the AHRC Newton-Bhabha Fund and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to digitise rare and unique printed books from its South Asian collections, dating from 1713 to 1914. Phase One of the Two Centuries of Indian Print digitised 1,000 rare and unique early printed Bengali books. The project received further funding for Phase Two to digitise 600 books printed in Urdu, Assamese, Sylheti and Bengali languages.

The project enhanced catalogue records in order to automate searching and improve discovery of these works by researchers; it also explored how digital research methods and tools can be applied to the digitised collection and has delivered digital skills workshops and training sessions at Indian institutions. The project promoted Digital Humanities research as well as generating new research into the British Library’s extensive South Asia collections through a network of international collaborations, including with our project partners at Jadavpur University. 

The British Library is continuing to experience a major technology outage as a result of a cyber-attack that took place in October 2023, see our most recent blog post: https://blogs.bl.uk/living-knowledge/2024/05/restoring-our-services-28-may-2024-update.html. The outage is still affecting our website, online systems and services, as well as some onsite services. However, we do not expect these placements to be affected.

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