28 December 2011

TNA podcast: Preparing the 1911 census for digitisation

Are you one of those who enjoys the movie about the making of the movie almost as much as the movie itself? If so this podcast explaining the work that went into getting the 8 million schedules in 34,934 volumes constituting the 1911 census of England and Wales onto the web will be of interest.

You'll learn about the process from its start in 2004, the arrival of the grubby and unboxed volumes at Kew, assessment of the task, selection of a contractor, condition of the material and treatment undertaken to deal with problems, to the digitization process and post processing storage of the originals.

The PowerPoint slideshow used during the presentation by Anna Bulow, TNA's head of preservation, at Census Day at Kew on 1 October 2011 can be downloaded. That makes it so much easier to understand the presentation than the typical TNA podcast devoid of the visual aids.

See it at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/preparing-1911-census-for-digitisation.htm

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