The National Geological Archives has already digitised 10 million pages of the more than 250,000 archival records held there.

The proprietary “Scanners” application, which speeds up the digitisation process by up to 60 per cent, has been extremely helpful.

Digitisation of archival records is one of the tasks carried out by the staff of the National Geological Archives (NAG). NAG is an organisational unit of the Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute and the largest archive in Poland storing geological documentation. Its holdings include more than 8 km of running shelves of documents and more than 450 000 archive records. In addition, 241,000 published and unpublished cartographic studies are archived.

Digitalisation, i.e. the conversion of the analogue form of geological records into digital form, is driven by the need to increase the security of the archival records collected. Making the digital version available also provides the opportunity for more people to use it at the same time.

The first digitisation work began with a pilot project that ran from 2015 to 2017. The project has developed a workflow for the entire digitisation process, including the tasks needed to be carried out at each stage. A digitisation workshop was set up, equipped with professional equipment (scanners and computers).

Digitalisation workshop at the NAG in Warsaw

The project involved the digitisation of 600 linear metres of archive documents. For this purpose, documentation registered in the years 1991-1999 was selected. This entire resource was prepared and inventoried by the Institute's staff, while the scanning was done by division: 550 linear metres by an external company and 50 linear metres by in-house work.

The inventory of each documentation is completed by generating and printing a "Document Card", which contains a unique barcode, original numbering, title of the document, as well as information about the content, identified deficiencies, number of pages, dimensions of the folder or boxes, and condition.

The scanning tasks produce a digital master copy, which is not subject to processing that could affect the authenticity of the protected content. From this version, lightweight JPG files and a collective PDF file are generated for the purpose of sharing documentation.

The process of scanning documentation, as well as quality control, is carried out using NAG's proprietary “Scanners” application. The first work on the app started in 2016 and all the functionality it has was and is being developed on an ongoing basis. The improvements made are based on the needs and comments of the team that arise during scanning or quality control, so that the whole process is as streamlined as possible. The implementation of the "Scanners" application in the scanning process allows the scanning process to be accelerated by at least 60 percent and results in an average of 6.5 thousand items being scanned every day in the National Geological Archives. pages of various sizes (i.e. approximately 11,000 pages in A4 format).

Text: Kamil Kaczmarek
Photos: Barbara Ruszkiewicz, Kamil Kaczmarek