Digitization

The Digitization Services unit of Digital Scholarship Services (DLS) provides high quality digital reformatting and consultation on a wide range of materials for the UO community and the state of Oregon, including: 

  • Books, theses & dissertations, documents 
  • Unique and fragile materials 
  • Photographic prints and transparencies 
  • Large-format materials (architectural drawings, maps, etc.) 
  • Microfilm 
  • Newspapers 
  • Artworks 
  • Born-digital materials 
  • Studio photography and headshots 
  • 3D photogrammetry

Consultation Services

Contact us for information about: 

  • Technical specifications 
  • Digitization standards 
  • Best practices 
  • Capture and editing software 
  • File formats 
  • Scanning equipment 
  • Fragile materials handling and digitization 
  • Calibration and quality assurance

Digitization Requests

To request the digitization of materials from Special Collections and University Archives, please use the reproduction request form. For all other materials contact us. If you have required file specifications, please let us know. Pre-payment of fees is required. Our normal turn-around time is 6 weeks from the date of payment. 

Quality 

  • Highest quality: Non-standard deliverable, may require the purchase of an external drive depending on the size of the order. Formats: uncompressed TIFF 
  • Good quality: Standard deliverable. Formats: High-resolution compressed JPEG, PDF 
  • Reference quality: Non-standard deliverable. Formats: Screen-resolution compressed JPEG, PDF Specific format and quality requests can be accommodated. 

Delivery Method 

  • Download: no charge; small orders only 
  • USB Drive: $12 charge; up to 16GB 
  • External Hard Drive: $60; up to 4TB

Digitization Fees

Prices listed are per individual item or archival folder. A single project fee may be negotiated for larger quantities of scans. If you have questions, please contact us

Although we can provide files in all common formats (TIFF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, etc.), our standard deliverable is a high-resolution JPEG image for visual material, and a PDF for manuscript and text based materials. We can provide custom work (cropping, mounting, or specific tonal values) for an additional cost; please contact us. We can also provide original image capture in digital form.

  • Bound materials, consecutive pages: $0.65 per page
  • Bound materials, consecutive pages with OCR: $1 per page
  • Archival folder, 1-5 pages: $10 per page
  • Archival Folder, 6+ pages: $50 flat fee per folder
  • Photographs, front & back: $10
  • Oversized material, larger than 11x17 inches: $20 per page + $30 set-up fee
  • 3D objects: $50 per hour
  • Microfilm: $65 per reel

Digital prints 

All prints are made on Epson Photo Paper unless otherwise specified. We can print various sizes up to 40 x 60 inches, and other papers may be available for an extra cost; please contact us.

  • 8x10 inches: $25
  • 11x17 inches: $35
  • 16x20 inches: $58
  • 20x24 inches: 80
  • 24x36 inches: $144
  • 30x45 inches: $225
  • 36x48 inches: $288
  • 40x60 inches: $398

Media transfer or duplication 

DLS has limited capacity for duplication or transfer of audiovisual media in many formats. In some cases an external vendor is used. Please contact us for more information. 

Rush Orders 

Rush orders take 1-2 weeks after payment is received. A 50% surcharge will be added to the total invoice. 

Outsourcing 

Some orders may be sent to an external vendor at our discretion, depending on size and materials to be digitized. Invoices will reflect vendor costs plus 10%. 

Why Charge? 

The Digitization Services unit depends on highly skilled staff and student workers trained in international standards and best practices on specialized equipment. Charging for digitization helps us cover costs not allocated in our regular budget including training time, file administration and preservation, and equipment refresh. Requests that are funded through fees and grants get higher priority than unfunded projects.

Grants and Partnerships

If you are applying for a grant or other funding that includes a digitization component, please think about including Digitization Services as a partner. We can work with you to keep costs down. Contact Digital Library Services for more information. 

DLS is proud to be the primary digitization services provider for the Oregon Digital Newspaper Project! For information about newspaper digitization grants, see the ODNP Blog.

Equipment and Standards

The Digitization Services unit's output is compliant with the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) 4-Star performance level, and follows the Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement.

See a list of our digitization equipment and software

Portfolio