Requirements for Submission of Digitised Records for Archival Preservation

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Requirements for Submission of Digitised Records for Archival Preservation

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Introduction
Digitisation and NRS
Preparation
Requirements
Metadata requirements
Glossary

1. Introduction

This document sets out the requirements for depositors to National Records of Scotland (NRS) who meet the following criteria:

Have analogue records which have been selected, or will likely be selected, for permanent preservation by NRS;
Who intend to change the format of those selected records from analogue to digital, via a digitisation process (e.g. scanning), and;
Who intend to submit these records to NRS in their newly digitised form, in place of their original analogue equivalents.

The requirements below are to be reviewed in parallel to our ‘Depositor Guidance for the Transfer of Archival Born Digital Records’, which outlines essential requirements for preparation and process for transfer.

2. Digitisation and NRS

It is the responsibility of the record creator and/or depositor to decide what format a record is kept in while it is in their custody, and under their management. This may include the decision to digitise analogue records and destroy the original versions, should that depositor determine that managing their records in digital formats would be more straightforward, efficient and/or cost effective than managing analogue records.

However, depositors responsible for public records must ensure these are managed in accordance with their statutory obligations. In particular, public authorities subject to the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 ('PRSA') must ensure that all arrangements for their public records meet the terms of their agreed Records Management Plan.

Any digitised records to be submitted to NRS for permanent preservation must be transferred with documented assurance that the digitisation process did in no way impact the integrity, authenticity and usability of the archival records.

NRS asserts a right of refusal for records which have been digitised in a manner which affects their integrity, authenticity and/or usability. For more information on these characteristics, see Glossary and the NRS Digital Preservation Policy.

3. Preparation

3.1. Legal Basis and Security

NRS cannot provide assurance that records created through digitisation projects are legally admissible in their new digital format. The responsibility to confirm this lies with the depositor considering digitisation.

For this reason, advice must be sought from your own information governance team to determine any legal blockers that would prevent digitisation before the digitisation project begins. This is particularly relevant where records may need to be presented in court, and you may be required to provide further assurances of competent processing than those described in this document (see note on BS 10008 below).

It will also be necessary to consider cyber security risks when establishing a digitisation project, to ensure digital images are stored securely prior to transfer to NRS. We, therefore, strongly recommend advice is sought from cyber security professionals. While some preservation risks are reduced in the transition from analogue to digital (physical security, fire, weather damage), having records stored digitally will open the records to a new set of cyber security risks.

3.2. Engagement

NRS depositors considering digitising records which will, or could be, transferred to NRS for permanent preservation must contact us as early as possible in this process. This will allow us to advise you on the requirements outlined in this document and work through any questions or issues that you may have. Contact should be made via your archive contact or via digital_records@nrscotland.gov.uk if you do not have an archive contact.

It is also necessary for depositors to agree arrangements for transfers to NRS. This includes notifying NRS of the intended size of the digital image transfers (in estimated bytes and number of objects) in advance, and informing us of requirements for access following transfer. We will work with you to determine timeframes and expectations for transfer processes.

NRS cannot provide assurance on commercial suppliers for digitisation, but we are able to contribute to non-commercially sensitive discussions with your suppliers to ensure our requirements are understood and established within their processes.

Where possible, NRS can support peer learning with other depositors who are conducting digitisation projects, so that you can benefit from shared experiences.

3.3. Research

The requirements outlined in this document should be seen as the minimum required to provide assurance of competent processing for digitisation that is expected for submission to NRS.

You may wish to further research digitisation processing for preservation, and we recommend the following resources:

BS 10008 Evidential weight and legal admissibility of electronically stored information (ESI)
- This is the core standard in preserving integrity, authenticity and usability of digitised records. We would strongly recommend alignment to this standard as far as possible, with particular focus on Annex E Preparation of paper documents.
ISO/TR 13028 Information and documentation – Implementation guidelines for digitization of records

You may also wish to review the following guidance from archival institutions with similar requirements to NRS:

4. Requirements

Below you will find NRS’s requirements for digitisation projects, where the format of the records are to be changed from analogue to digital. These should be seen as the minimum acceptance criteria for creating digitised images that can be accepted for NRS for permanent preservation.

4.1. Document Preparation

Requirement Number	Requirement Title	Description
1.1.	Cleanliness	Digitisation area to be kept clean and ordered. No food or drink to be allowed in this area.
1.2.	Original Order (i)	Operators to remove folders from boxes one at a time. Folders to be scanned in the sequence that exists in the box.
1.3.	Original Order (ii)	Pages within folders to be scanned in the order they appear in the folder.
1.4.	Original Order (iii)	Apart from pagination (see 1.6) no additional documentation to be added to the folder for digitisation, unless batch cover sheets are used for the purposes of evidencing digitisation processing. This includes annotation.
1.5.	Original Order (iv)	Where a page is double sided, both sides are to be digitised in the order determined by the record.
1.6.	Original Order (v)	The most robust way to track page order is through physically numbering pages (pagination) and checking this order is reflected in the digitised version. Any numbering is to take place on blank space within the pages, and will not impede the readability of the pages.
1.7.	Physical State	Pages which are fragile or in poor condition will not be scanned without seeking further advice from NRS.
1.8.	Existing Stationery	The only content to be removed folders will be paper clips, staples, plastic sleeves, or blank pages (both sides). Existing post-it notes or annotations are to be moved to a blank section of the same page and digitised together.

4.2. Scanning process

Requirement Number	Requirement Title	Description
2.1.	NRS Approval	Digitisation equipment used will be approved by NRS. This is to ensure the equipment is appropriate to use for the paper type and age, so that the digitisation process does not cause damage to the original pages.
2.2.	Damage Reporting	Any damage to the documents sustained during scanning will be reported to NRS.
2.3.	Resolution	Photographs to be scanned at a minimum of 600 PPI. Standard documents to be scanned at a minimum of 300 PPI. For any other physical format type, e.g. microfilm, contact NRS for further guidance.
2.4.	Comprehensiveness	Pages to be scanned in their entirety.

4.3. Image format

Requirement Number	Requirement Title	Description
3.1.	Layout (i)	Images to be orientated according to original page orientation (portrait for portrait, landscape for landscape).
3.2.	Layout (ii)	De-skew setting to be used to straighten images.
3.3.	Layout (iii)	Images to be single page unless information covers two pages.
3.4.	Format	Documents to be scanned to a digital file format that ensures the legibility of all of the document - images to be no less readable than the original document. This format will be agreed with NRS. Format approval will only occur once a meaningful sample (as agreed with NRS) is received for review. Whatever file format used, it is to be stored with lossless compression.

4.4. Quality assurance

Requirement Number

Requirement Title

Description

4.1.

Naming Convention

Digital objects to be named in a consistent, repeatable way that has been agreed with NRS. It is to be sequential so that the pages in the folder reflect the order of the images numerically.

4.2.

Manual checks

Manual quality checks to take place with the original document against the images - this will be for validity, order and quality.

The proportion of manual quality checks required will be agreed with NRS.

4.3.

Errors

Errors and scans that do not meet quality requirements to be recorded and rectified by re-scanning the entire folder.

4.5. Metadata and Transfer Manifest

Requirement Number	Requirement Title	Description
5.1.	Technical	Technical metadata to be provided in line with requirements set under Table A (6.1). The purpose of this is to provide technical and structural contextual information about the image objects and the circumstances of their creation. This is to be received for each transfer package (batch of records) to be sent to NRS. Our preferred format for this is csv (comma delimited).
5.2.	QA	Quality Assurance metadata is to be provided in line with requirements set under Table B (6.2). The purpose of this is to evidence that adequate quality checks have been completed by the depositor prior to transfer. This is to be received for each transfer package (batch of records) to be sent to NRS. Our preferred format for this is csv (comma delimited).
5.3.	Descriptive	Descriptive metadata is to be provided in line with requirements set under Table C (6.3). The purpose of this is to provide the provenance and administrative history of the records to ensure records can be adequately catalogued and retrieved. This is to be received for each transfer package (batch of records) to be sent to NRS. Our preferred format for this is csv (comma delimited).
5.4.	Transfer Manifest	Transfer manifest is to be provided in line with requirements set under Table D (6.4). The purpose of this is to submit metadata that will be used by NRS to verify the transfer has been successful. This will be received for each transfer package (batch of records) to be sent to NRS. This is to be submitted in csv format. For further guidance on the manifest file, see: Depositor Guidance for the Transfer of Archival Born Digital Records

4.6. Post scan arrangements

Requirement Number	Requirement Title	Description
6.1.	Original Order (vi)	Paper documents do not need to be rebound where paper clips or staples are removed, but once scanning is complete the pages will be placed back in their original order within the folder, and the folder is to be put back in the original box in the same order.
6.2.	Paper Destruction	Destruction of analogue records will only take place once: a) The depositor has confirmed with NRS that the requirements outlined in this document have been met. b) The depositor has confirmed with NRS that due diligence has been conducted internally, and written legal advice has been received to confirm analogue record destruction is legally admissible. c) The depositor has submitted to NRS an agreed sample in the format and structure outlined in these requirements, and sign off has been received from NRS that the requirements have been met. d) Digital records have been transferred to NRS, and NRS have confirmed the successful validation of the transfer.
6.3.	Paper Retention	Original analogue records will be retained if: a) A quality scan could not be obtained due to poor quality or damage. b) The document contains detailed annotations or amendments that would be lost during scanning. c) A paper record has already been, or is likely to be, identified to be used in an ongoing legal case.
6.4.	Transfer package	Transfer packages of archival digital images will be packaged and named in line with the Depositor Guidance.
6.5.	Transfer Agreement	Transfer to NRS will only take place once an archive transfer agreement has been signed off by both the depositor and NRS.
6.6.	Schedule Agreement	Transfer to NRS will only take place once the schedule and volumes are agreed between the depositor and NRS.
6.7.	Digital Retransmissions	Expectations around access to the images upon transfer to NRS will be agreed in advance of transfer.

5. Metadata requirements

5.1. Table A: Technical Metadata

Name	Description
Unique Identifier	Recommend using Version 4 UUID.
File Path	Full folder pathway of each file to be transferred.
File Name	Including extension.
Size	Bytes.
Folder Reference	As reflected in physical folder.
Box Reference	As reflected in physical box.
Other structural references	e.g series reference, shelf reference, room reference.
Checksum	MD5 Hash.
Operator Code	Code for operator who scanned image (do not send personal data).
Scanner Code	Identifier for device used.
Scan date and time	ISO 8601 Date Format (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss).
Image resolution	PPI.
Errors	Note where placeholders have been added if page damaged or unable to obtain clear scan.
Comments	Optional field to note any additional notes from the operator.

5.2. Table B: Quality Assurance Metadata

Name	Description
Unique Identifier	Recommend using Version 4 UUID.
Check date and time	ISO 8601 Date Format (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss).
QA Operator Code	Code for operator who checked image against analogue record (do not send personal data).
Image validation check	Image accessible and not corrupted Y/N.
Image order check	Image appears in same position as analogue folder Y/N.
Image quality check	Image is as legible as analogue record Y/N.
Errors	Description of error if applicable.
Number of attempts	Number of attempts to have image meet quality assurance checks.
Supervisor Code	Code for supervisor who approved quality assurance steps (do not send personal data).
Supervisor approval date and time	ISO 8601 Date Format (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss).

5.3. Table C: Descriptive Metadata

Name	Description
Unique Identifier	Recommend using Version 4 UUID.
Additional fields	Additional fields will be determined by NRS and depositor (context specific).

5.4. Table D: Transfer Manifest

You will note some repetition between the manifest file and the technical metadata requirements. This will ultimately lead to the generation of two separate csv files: one containing technical metadata produced during scanning, the other containing the transfer manifest produced immediately prior to transfer to NRS. The purpose of this separation is to:

Be able to confirm that the images have not been inadvertently altered in the time between production and archiving.
Be able to produce an accurate pathway that can be used for verification.
Be able to produce a manifest file with consistent fields that can be efficiently utilised during NRS’s ingest processes.
Be able to record up-to-date information regarding the closure status of the images to be sent.

The manifest file will be assembled ‘fresh’ immediately prior to transfer using the instructions from our Depositor Guidance. DROID software can be used to produce this, or the below minimum metadata fields can be assembled manually. Further instructions can be found in the Depositor Guidance.

Name	Description
FILE_PATH	Full folder pathway of each object to be transferred.
NAME	Including extension.
SIZE	Bytes.
LAST_MODIFIED	ISO 8601 Date Format (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss).
MD5_HASH	MD5 Checksum.
ACCESS_STATUS	CLOSED/OPEN Whether or not the records will be open to public access from receipt by NRS.
ACCESS_CONDITIONS	If ACCESS_STATUS ‘CLOSED’, mandatory field. If ACCESS_STATUS ‘OPEN’, complete as N/A. The reason why records are not open to public.
OPEN_FROM	If ACCESS_STATUS ‘CLOSED’, mandatory field. If ACCESS_STATUS ‘OPEN’, complete as N/A. Date that the closure ends. ISO 8601 Date Format (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss).
RIGHTS	Field to outline any copyright restrictions.
IDENTIFIER	Unique identifier applied during scanning.

5.5. Table E: Example Transfer Package

You can view this image in the attached Word document.

6. Glossary

Word	Meaning
Authenticity	That the information remains trustworthy.
Checksum	Computer generated sequence of letters and numbers that can be used to check data for errors. Sometimes referred to as a ‘digital fingerprint’.
Digitisation	Transformation of information stored in analogue physical formats into digital formats.
Integrity	That the information remains accurate and complete.
Metadata	Descriptive, technical and contextual information about a digital file or series of files.
Usability	That the information can be found, rendered and understood.

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NRS Requirements For Submission Of Digitised Records For Archival Preservation June 2025

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