Selective digitisation of information: the CSIR’s strategy for a sustainable effort

Abstract

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s digital preservation strategy and future plans for digital preservation effort are outlined. Guidelines and best practices for digitisation are already available, but the digitisation project requires experienced labour; and depending on the volume and size of the items to be digitised the equipment for digitisation can be expensive. Born digital documents are archived in the organisation’s institutional repository Research Space, which uses DSpace as a repository application. A scientific collection such as the South African diatom collection, which includes sample bottles, microscope slides, sheets analysis, books and maps, has also been digitised