Digitization Standards at the National Archives and Records Administration

The US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), through the Digitization Planning Branch in the Office of Innovation, is developing flexible and appropriate agency-wide standards for digitization in order to advance NARA's goal of making its holdings more available. Recognizing that there is no single answer to the question “what format should I use,” this effort uses the One Touch and Fit For Purpose concepts to document file format and attribute choices that will meet a variety of known and expected uses for the digitized material.Focusing on a collection of use cases, this paper examines the essential components of the effort: characterizing customer groups including file creators and file consumers, defining the intended uses for digitization products, designing digitization products to satisfy these needs, and finally, packaging the standards information at an appropriate level of complexity for a variety of user communities. The effort reflects a broader agency-wide approach to systematic digitization and acknowledges the growing effectiveness of distributed digitization including utilizing commercial partners, crowd-sourcing and other community-driven initiatives.