Since the end of the last century IDC Publishers has stressed the importance of access strategies based on metadata, created according to internationally accepted bibliographic standards. Thus, IDC contributes to the development of sophisticated library finding aids in the difficult field of worldwide fragmented cultural heritage. As a result, IDC is now one of the world's leading specialized publishers of rare and 'inaccessible' materials. These materials comprise monographs, periodicals, manuscripts, archives, herbaria and photographic collections.
As from January 1st 2006, IDC Publishers is an imprint of Brill, Leiden - Boston.
Analog and Digital copies of Primary Source Collections
Although nowadays a significant and increasing part of IDC's activities is based on electronic media, we still attach high value to the special qualities of microform. It is a stable, reliable and migratable analog technology that is again being increasingly recognized for its role in the preservation of rare materials and in the affordable publication of specialized materials for limited markets.
Whereas analog media excel in preservation characteristics, digital media excel in access possibilities. This poses an important dilemma. The content owner is often interested especially in preservation, whereas the user of primary sources is mainly interested in access.
As long as providing access to primary sources is realized by offering images of the pages of the sources, there is in fact no difference between a digital or analog copy. Both offer the possibility to page through the original source. The main difference is that for paging through an analogue copy, dedicated hardware is necessary, whereas paging through a digital copy can take place on (almost) any workstation throughout the world.
IDC's answer to this digital or analogue dilemma is threefold:
| 1. | Recording at location will be done more and more using digital capturing systems. Reasons for this choice are, firstly, the fact that we mostly work on location, secondly, the fact the there are less requirements for digital recording (no dark room, no chemical waste). Furthermore, the operator can instantly obtain information about the quality of the work. |
| 2. | Using Computer Output to Microform we can always create a high-quality analog master that meets preservation standards. |
| 3. | Access to the recorded images can be given by distributing copies of the analogue master orby providing access to the digital images on an IDC server. |
It will be clear that the digital world creates other opportunities for enrichment of the source itself, such as the possibilities to add annotations, and to apply Optical Character Recognition, which can enable, for instance, full text searching. Where feasible, we will add specific "digital" functionality, thus creating a new source for scholarly research. However the majority of the special collections that can be accessed online consists of a viewing copy of the recorded image either scanned from microform or directly from the original work. You can search or browse the metadata to select the part of the resource that you want to view. For multi-volume titles a table of contents has been added, giving you the possibility to select a specific volume or part of the title.
Leiden, June 2007.
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