Open Content Alliance (OCA)

"The Open Content Alliance (OCA) represents the collaborative efforts of a group of cultural, technology, nonprofit, and governmental organizations from around the world that will help build a permanent archive of multilingual digitized text and multimedia content." - OCA website

Link to the OCA: http://www.opencontentalliance.org/

Link to the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/index.php

Please see Attachments for:

• OCA Digitization Criteria
• Music notation & OCR example

NEW PRICING GUIDELINE for 2011: http://www.archive.org/~pnguyen/pricing/index.html

Criteria for scanning

Digitization Criteria to be used by Library and IA

• Criteria to be used for determining if the materials may be digitized are listed below and will include, but not necessarily be limited to the following:
  • Any special preservation standards that came on cart from the Library Partner.

• Materials that have multiple titles/physical volume (eg, 63 vols, 20-40 pamphlets per vol, of "Forestry Pamphlets" without analytics) will be reviewed to ensure all proper meta data is understood.

• Materials will be screened for size- materials not fitting the requirements shown below will be returned unscanned. 

• Size-
  • 9.7 wide by 14.5 high at the max. Books as small as 3 inches x 3 inches may possibly be scanned.
  • less than 3 inches thick are ok, greater than 3 inches will need to be reviewed.
  • Books should on average should be 200 pages or larger. If a collection is mostly under 100 pages a review should be undertaken between IA and BLC to ensure the quoted price per scanned page can be met.

• Book Style-
  • Side bound Monographs, no single sheets, no top bound books.
  • Rebound books need to be checked for how tight the gutter or binding is, or if the text runs outside the margin (it will show the cradle).
  • When there are more than one title within a bound book; each of these has to be clearly marked with a paper strip; each of these will be counted as a separate book. Deviations from this must be approved between IA/Library Partner.
  • Soft cover books are ok if they are bound.
  • Covers that are almost separated from book and appear too fragile may be rejected unless agreed to in advance by Library Partner.
  • Material condition-Materials should be of similar condition or quality to what would be put into circulation. Materials deemed not robust to go into circulation should be reviewed with Scanning Center Coordinator before scanning.
  • Tight bindings that will not lay open for digitization per IA specification limits will be rejected. 

• Paper style-
  • Most paper styles can be scanned, except highly acidic paper that disintegrates to the touch. Note that if a hard-to-scan paper is to be digitized; a review of time to scan versus any ‘damage’ will be undertaken.
  • All pages should be pre-cut. Unless otherwise instructed, books with uncut pages will not be scanned.
  • Pages should be able to be lifted and turned with normal effort. Sticky pages or the like will not be scanned.
  • Pages should not be excessively dusty, have excessive mildew or be moldy.
  • Microfilmed reproductions should be reviewed with Scanning Center before being scanned. If the paper/image looks like a film negative (Xerox), these won’t be scanned. If the microfilm reproductions have more than one page on each leaf these will be rejected.

• Gutters/Margins-
  • Any book where the text is less than a quarter inch off the gutter, on an approximate 75-degree angle will be unscannable.
  • Text that runs to the edge of the page or margin can be scanned but the presentation will be poor, as the cradle will show. The Library Partner must approve this.

• Bibliographic data-
  • Multiple books or multi volume set-The usual problem with bibliographic info is that there is only one bib record for a set. The Library Partner will make a decision as to how this should be handled. 
  • Books that are out of approved copyright range. These will be set aside, unless otherwise agreed to by Library Partner and IA.
  • A book will be set aside when a Marc record can’t be located   when a Call ID/Book ID or equivalent is inputted.

Articles

Brewster Kahle's presentation on the Internet Archive at the TED Conference: http://blog.ted.com/2008/09/brewster_kahle.php
Wired Magazine's article and gallery about the Internet Archive: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/multimedia/2008/03/gallery_internet_archive

 Sample Batch

9/15/08: Per Beverly's email message to Ann Marie, the files from the OCA sample batch will not be loaded into DOME at this time.  Loading them will be discussed when the collections of which they are a part are scanned and loaded. 

The physical items that were scanned as part of the sample batch will be reshelved.

Review of OCA Samples

IA URLs for OCA sample scans: