Turn what you know into a working brief.
Formats, labels, units, and condition observations.
Who needs to find what, and by which fields.
Sample, exceptions, review criteria, and handoff.
01 / Identify the material
Tell us whether your collection contains microfilm reels, cartridges or cassettes; fiche sheets or jackets; aperture cards; or a mixture. Counts can be estimates. Note labels, film width, fiche headings, drawing registers, visible condition issues and any known reduction ratios.
Avoid trying to repair damaged material or opening a sealed cartridge simply to complete an inventory. Do not send sensitive record images through the public inquiry form; use it to arrange an appropriate next conversation.
02 / Define the retrieval goal
Describe how a user should find a record after digitization. A record number, date, drawing revision or roll/frame reference may be more useful than a keyword search alone. Distinguish collection-level identifiers from document-level fields and define any multi-page grouping.
If OCR is requested, representative material helps assess its likely usefulness. Source quality, reduction, layout and handwriting all affect recognition. Indexing and OCR solve different retrieval needs.
03 / Agree a sample and specification
A representative test batch can clarify cropping, orientation, tonal handling, file naming, document boundaries, index fields and output requirements. Include difficult examples rather than only the clearest records.
Agree review criteria and exception handling before scaling up. A nominal resolution number does not by itself prove that tiny text or fine drawing lines are readable.
04 / Plan the handoff
Confirm requested formats, destination system/version, administrator, field dictionary and approved upload/import method. Decide whether the customer will import a delivery package or whether an authorized upload workflow is part of the scope.
Source return, transport, storage restrictions and retention decisions should be explicit. Digitization does not itself authorize destruction of originals or override public-record retention, privacy or access rules.