The primary purposes of the digital collections at the Gerth Archives Special Collections are to provide access to materials online for teaching and research, to preserve materials in preservation quality digital file formats for the long-term preservation, to reduce the impact by frequent handling of the physical materials, and to enhance community engagement. The purposes define digitization standards and practices.
Not all materials can be digitized or digitization is constrained and determined by many factors, including archival values, copyrights, physical conditions, availability and limitations of equipment, financial resources, and manpower. It is essential to set the scope of the digital collection being created and clarify priorities and selection criteria, determining what to be selected and digitized as well as what not to be selected or digitized.
The digital collection projects at the Gerth Archives and Special Collections have digitized materials and produced surrogates in preservation quality formats in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI).