Today, LYRASIS, the United States’ largest regional membership organization serving libraries and information professionals, announced that it has expanded its relationship with Creekside Digital to include preservation-quality digitization of microfiche scanning services as well as additional microform content (such as manuscript collections) to LYRASIS members through the Mass Digitization Collaborative. Here is an excerpt from the press release (full press release on the LYRASIS site here):

LYRASIS to Expand the Mass Digitization Collaborative with New Services

Atlanta, GA, — June 17, 2011 — LYRASIS is excited to announce the expansion of its Mass Digitization Collaborative through partnership with Digital Conversion Solutions (DCS), a division of The HF Group, as well as an expansion of the existing partnership with Creekside Digital.

Previously, the Mass Digitization Collaborative offered LYRASIS members the opportunity to digitize books, serials and microfilmed newspapers for a low fee. “Based on input from our Digital & Preservation Services Advisory Group, we are in the process of completing contracts that allow us to expand the Collaborative to offer new and different formats,” stated Robin Dale, Director of Digital & Preservation Services.

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Based on positive feedback from members, LYRASIS has also expanded their partnership with Creekside Digital, specialists in document and microfilm digitization, to offer preservation-quality microfiche scanning services to members. “After successfully delivering terabytes of preservation-quality images and millions of files to LYRASIS members over the past year, Creekside Digital is pleased to assist in the expansion of the Mass Digitization Collaborative program. The inclusion of content beyond books and newspapers, as well as the eligibility of multiple formats of microfiche, means that we will be able to help even more member institutions convert a higher percentage of the microfilm in their holdings,” stated Jim Studnicki, President, Creekside Digital.

As a result of the expansion in formats, some of the new services will not be eligible for Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant-subsidized pricing. “We have been able to negotiate very favorable terms with expert service providers for content that falls outside of our Sloan Foundation grant,” added Laurie Gemmill, Mass Digitization Program Manager. “The expansion of the content scope will allow members more options for digitization and additionally, members will have exclusive control over how they make their content available. We’re excited about these new possibilities for our members.”

For more information about the Mass Digitization Collaborative, please contact Laurie Gemmill. Additionally, Robin Dale and Laurie Gemmill will be available to discuss these new services in the LYRASIS Booth #959 at ALA on Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26.

About LYRASIS

Created in April 2009 by the merger of PALINET and SOLINET and joined shortly thereafter by NELINET, LYRASIS is the nation’s largest regional, non-profit membership organization serving libraries and information professionals – providing opportunities for networking and collaboration, offering innovative solutions and delivering significant cost savings through group purchasing for products and services. For more information, please visit www.lyrasis.org.

About Creekside Digital

Founded in 2006, Creekside Digital of Glen Arm, MD specializes in providing archival-quality digitization of microfilm, bound and oversized books, maps, newspapers, and fine artwork, as well as on-site large format photography for libraries, archives, and museums. For more information, visit www.creeksidedigital.com.

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Creekside’s Take on the Announcement

The expansion of our partnership with LYRASIS allows LYRASIS Mass Digitization Collaborative participants to convert microfiche in addition to rollfilm. The following types of microfiche are eligible:

• Step and Repeat
• Jacketed Fiche
• COM

All microfiche digitization will be performed at 300dpi true optical resolution to 8-bit uncompressed TIFF archival master files. Program participants also receive three derivative files for each frame scanned, including JPEG2000, searchable PDF, and plain text containing the OCR engine’s raw output.

Also, non-Sloan eligible microform materials may now be scanned through the program, including manuscript collections and other types of content besides books and newspapers on rollfilm.

For questions regarding pricing, project procedures, LYRASIS membership, the Mass Digitization Collaborative, etc., please contact Laurie Gemmill, Mass Digitization Program Manager for LYRASIS, at 800-233-3401 x2908, or email her at laurie.gemmill@lyrasis.org.

For questions of a more technical nature regarding the microfilm digitization process, please contact Creekside Digital.