Digital solutions and process optimisation: A case study at a small university archive

This paper describes a project undertaken at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Archives and Special Collections to migrate more than 12,000 digitised TIFF images, representing 0.6 TB of data, from multiple local network folders into a digital repository that could generate appropriately sized JPEG derivatives in an effort to alleviate performance issues. This paper also describes how improved workflows were implemented and altered in response to unforeseen challenges and describes collaborative efforts with campus Information Technology Services and open source community developers to integrate technical systems, notably Blacklight’s Spotlight plug-in, within the repository. It concludes with a reflection on how these new tools have improved the processing of born-digital and digitised materials and their discovery by patrons.