The BHL book brings up an interesting point: as BHL is a consortium, the members are able to make their own calls (TO AN EXTENT... beyond this we get into a lot of nitty gritty) on how they digitize. Smithsonian Libraries, for example, makes a point to scan all pages front and back, while other partners (such as Harvard MCZ, apparently) don't. It raises an interesting point about who libraries think are looking at their digital objects: BHL's core goal is communicating biodiversity literature, not necessarily the physical objects, so scanning blanks was not a priority for them. On the other hand, the rare book librarians at Smithsonian Libraries have had a LOT of input on scanning, so our digitization crew scans blanks, pastedowns, flyleaves, the whole shebang!
This is a really good point! There is such variety in how digitizations of books and prints are done from institution to institution and how the audiences for those digitizations are imagined. Who are the audiences for these things? And is it even possible to meet all those possible needs without exploding in a pile of debt and exhaustion?
The BHL book brings up an interesting point: as BHL is a consortium, the members are able to make their own calls (TO AN EXTENT... beyond this we get into a lot of nitty gritty) on how they digitize. Smithsonian Libraries, for example, makes a point to scan all pages front and back, while other partners (such as Harvard MCZ, apparently) don't. It raises an interesting point about who libraries think are looking at their digital objects: BHL's core goal is communicating biodiversity literature, not necessarily the physical objects, so scanning blanks was not a priority for them. On the other hand, the rare book librarians at Smithsonian Libraries have had a LOT of input on scanning, so our digitization crew scans blanks, pastedowns, flyleaves, the whole shebang!
This is a really good point! There is such variety in how digitizations of books and prints are done from institution to institution and how the audiences for those digitizations are imagined. Who are the audiences for these things? And is it even possible to meet all those possible needs without exploding in a pile of debt and exhaustion?