Building digitized collection: Theory and practice

The digitization of library collection is one of the most important tasks for electronic collection development of a library. Digital collection development tends to be more complex than electronic resource licensing and subscription. There are many factors to be considered in the digitization of collection, such as selection policy, organization, access, preservation, funding, and so forth. In this article, the authors discuss some issues associated with collection digitization, including copyright control, intellectual nature, added value, users and their needs, human resource management, technical requirement, funding, and digital content preservation. Several collection digitization principles emerge from the discussion, with respect to standardization and specification, extensibility and integration, security and reliability, preservation and service, collaboration and sharing as well as evaluation of the digital collection. Finally, the theoretical discussions are further demonstrated by using digital dissertation development at Zhongsban University Libraries, P.R.China, as a pragmatic instance.