Digital Library Program to Upgrade its Burns Library Facilities

The digitization lab in the Burns Library will receive a much-needed makeover this summer. It was built in 2009 to complement its sister lab in O’Neill and to satisfy the needs of the growing digital library program at Boston College. Bill Donovan, then Digital Imaging and Curation Librarian, was integral to the planning and construction of the space The lab he helped design allows for the imaging of materials from the Burns Library special collections and archives without the need to transport rare and fragile items to the O’Neill facility.

Affectionately dubbed the “digicube,” the small 10 x 16 foot space is surrounded by standard cubicle siding with a sliding door in the middle. Its first piece of equipment, purchased in late 2009, was a digital copystand. Combined with a Hasselblad medium format camera capable of producing high-quality digital images, the copystand is used to capture small artwork and loose-leaf items from the Burns Library archival collections. A second imaging device was added in 2013. The Atiz Bookdrive scanner operates two Canon EOS cameras and is fitted with a book cradle and glass platen that provides support for bound material and increased capture speed over the copystand. With the Atiz, the imaging output of the lab grew, encouraging a move towards larger projects.

The limitations of the digicube soon became evident. New projects that included oversized material too large for either device and too cost-prohibitive for outside vendors were set aside. Because both pieces of equipment cannot be operated simultaneously, the commitment of the Atiz to a two-year project meant stoppages in both the copystand and Atiz workflows for priority items.

In addition to the spatial limitations a review of the program’s digital equipment by our Digital Collections and Preservation Librarian, uncovered deficiencies that were affecting the quality of our output images. With the eventual loss of the O’Neill diglab’s main scanner, the Zeutschel, to mechanical failure last winter, a proposal for new imaging equipment was moved forward. The authorization of the equipment purchase coincided with the recent approval of a request to enlarge the Burns digitization space.

The new facility will expand the footprint of digicube to include an additional 300 square feet. The cubicle siding surrounding the Atiz will be moved to provide a dedicated space for copystand photography. This new area will be constructed to accommodate the high-end imaging capabilities of our new Digital Transitions RGC180 Capture Cradle and include the following:

• Raised ceiling that will increase ventilation for current strobe lights, accommodate the height of the new equipment, and disperse the light output of the strobes to limit interference with nearby imaging equipment
• Overhead lighting will be daylight-balanced for more accurate color matching between original material and its digital image
• Neutral gray walls to minimize color shifts and flare
• Carpet will be replaced by tiles, reducing dust

The open floor plan of the remaining space will provide for a staging area where special collections material can be safely laid out and handled. Joining us in the new lab will be the Digital Archives Specialist. Currently working out of the Irish Music Center in the Bapst building, he will move his audiovisual equipment into the space across from the Atiz previously used for cataloging.

The expansion, along with the acquisition of the new digital capture cradle, will increase the lab’s output capacity and is a significant move towards the long-term vision of opening up Boston College’s unique collections to the world.