Our services
Heritage Digitisation services offered by Manuscripts and Special Collections. Click on the name of the service for more information.
Helping to plan projects
We offer a digitisation project planning and consultancy service.
Get in touch with us if you need help with:
- estimating timescales for a project
- developing outline costs for a funding bid
- advice on whether it is safe to digitise fragile items
- any other queries
Contact the Heritage Digitisation service
Image standards
- We capture all initial images at high resolution with a ruler and colour target and process images on calibrated monitors to ensure that your original material is reproduced as accurately as possible
- The specific image resolution may vary according to your requirements and the nature and size of the original
Manuscripts and printed material
- We will aim to achieve 300 to 600 pixels per inch at original size.
Smaller items e.g. photographs and negatives
- We can achieve up to 2400 to 4800 pixels per inch.
Image formats
We supply copies of master images in uncompressed TIFF format as standard. This gives you the best possible copy with appropriate reference points from which you can create further derivative versions.
We can supply derivative copies to you in a range of formats according to your specification. These can be cropped to remove the ruler and colour target, converted to lower resolution and compressed to produce smaller files that are ready for you to use as needed.
Typical formats are:
- JPEG
- JPEG2000
- PNG
- single page PDF
- multi-page PDF for book on screen delivery
Other formats and advice
If you require a format not listed here or require advice on what will be most suitable for your needs, we will be happy to discuss this with you.
Contact the Heritage Digitisation service
Filenames and metadata
- We can name files according to your specifications so that you can easily integrate them into your systems.
- We are experienced in creating metadata and will be happy to discuss your requirements to ensure that your images are embedded with appropriate contextual information.
- We can supply file listings and metadata in a separate file for you to copy or import into your catalogue records.
Image processing and printed facsimiles
- We aim to capture an accurate reproduction of your original material and limit post production to ensuring accurate colour rendering and digital stitching where large formats have been captured in several shots
- Some images may benefit from digital retouching (depending on the desired use) and we will be happy to discuss this with you
- We may be able to provide optical character recognition (OCR) processing, depending on the nature of the original
- We can supply printed facsimile copies of your material up to A3+ size (329mm x 483mm)
File transfer
We can supply images on:
For larger projects, we recommend clients supply a portable USB hard drive. This is the most efficient and secure way to transfer large high quality files.