Find out what we can digitise and how we go about it

What is digitisation?

Put simply ‘digitisation’ is the process of converting physical materials into digital content.

Why digitise?

By digitising physical materials, you can preserve the originals, open up access to an international audience online, make content searchable for researchers to discover and create income generation opportunities for your organisation. Watch our short film to see the many benefits of digitisation.

What can we digitise?

We have top-of-the-range studios in London St Pancras and Boston Spa. We also offer on location photography services. We can digitise your own items, or items from our own collection for you.

From straight-forward scanning and photography to more specialist formats such as 3D imaging, location photography, high quality printing and multi-spectral assessment etc we can digitise almost anything.

Over the past 20 years we have digitised ancient manuscripts, 3D globes, complete archives of magazines and journals, diaries, scrapbooks, glass lantern slides and much much more.

Our team of imaging specialists and conservation experts are on-hand to guide you through your bespoke digitisation project from start to finish.

What to consider before digitising?

Get in touch to discuss your digitisation needs.

During an initial (free, no commitment) consultation, in order to recommend the appropriate services for your project and to provide you with a quote and timeframe, we will ask you various questions to find out:

• Whether you want to digitise your own items, or items from our collection, or both
• The condition of your archive
• The size and format of your materials
• How you will use the digital files
• Your deadlines

We’ve also put together some helpful guides to help you get started:

• Seven questions to ask yourself before starting your digitisation project
• How to get funding for your digitisation project
• Common paper pests and how to deal with them

How does the process work? 

We will tailor the digitisation solution to your specific needs, but here is a five-step outline of what to expect when you digitise with us.

1. We can arrange delivery of materials to one of the British Library studios (London or Boston Spa) or can support you to make your own delivery arrangements.
2. We meticulously prepare materials for digitisation.
3. We check a sample for quality control purposes before embarking on full digitisation.
4. We send the digital files for post-processing including metadata capture, OCR etc and carry out a final quality check.
5. We securely send the digital files to you and safely return the originals.