Resources and Guides

This section includes the BOOKS, WEBINARS, and VIDEOS created by the EAP team to help award holders and members of their project teams to create the highest quality images, audio and metadata for their project. There is also a list of links to guidance produced by British Library's Conservation team under the COLLECTION CARE heading below.

BOOKS

Remote Capture: Digitising Documentary Heritage in Challenging Locations

This is a how-to guide for all who are planning to embark on a scholarly digitisation project. It was published in 2018 by Open Book Publishers. Tailored to the specifications of the British Library’s EAP projects, it contains practical advice for those planning and carrying out a digitisation project in potentially challenging conditions. From establishing the scope of the project, via practical considerations about equipment, work routines, staffing, and negotiating local politics, to backing up your data and successfully completing your work, Remote Capture covers every stage and provides help and guidance, advice and experiences from people who have completed projects everywhere around the globe from Latin America to Africa to Asia. With a focus on the process of digitisation of visula material, Remote Capture is required reading for anyone applying for an EAP grant, and the advice in these pages is useful for anyone planningto to digitise an archive.

This book can be downloaded as a free e-book here. 

Digital appendices to accompany the publication can be accessed by clicking on the link: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0138.11

From Dust to Digital: Ten Years of the Endangered Archives Programme

Published in 2014, this volume showcases the historical significance of the collections identified, catalogued and digitised through EAP, bringing together articles on 19 of the projects supported since its inception. These contributions demonstrate the range of materials documented - including rock inscriptions, manuscripts, archival records, newspapers, photographs and sound archives - and the wide geographical scope of the Programme. Many of the documents are published here for the first time, illustrating the potential these collections have to further our understanding of history. Read about the publication in a blog post written by its editor Maja Kominko, or read the publication itself: available as free downloadable pdfs (either by chapter or in its entirety), or for purchase as a hard copy from Open Book Publishers. 

WEBINARS

EAP Webinar: Completing a Successful Preliminary Application

The first live EAP webinar “Completing a Successful Preliminary Application” took place on 2 November 2018. Over 40 participants from around the globe took part in an online Q&A session, where EAP staff members and previous grant holders s answered questions about all aspects of the application process. The presentation and Q&As are reproduced in the blog.

EAP webinars in Arabic, Spanish and French took place in June 2019. The presentations can be found on the blog post.

COLLECTION CARE

The British LIbrary's Preservation Advisory Centre published some useful guidance booklets that are available online.

• Basic preservation for archive collections
• Understanding and caring for bookbindings
• Cleaning books and documents
• Damaged books
• Managing the library and archive environment
• Mould outbreaks in library collections
• Moving library and archive collections
• Managing pests in paper-based collections
• Manejo de las plagas en colecciones con soportes de papel
• Preservation of photographic material
• Building a preservation policy
• Salvaging library and archive collections
• Library and archive storage furniture
• Preservation of photographic material