I had a great conversation with someone who archives and preserves documents for a living. A big part of their work involves digitizing documents and publications. A few takeaways from the conversation:

• Commercial-grade book scanners are the way to go. They can generate an image or text file, or both, when they scan a book.
• Discoverability is an important consideration. Tagging and metadata are important to enhancing discoverability.
• Ensuring consistency in the information collected across publications is important. Thinking through the metadata schema is an essential upfront exercise.
• Using distinct identifiers, i.e., authority control, helps keep data clean and enhances discoverability.  
• I need to learn what ontology is and how it relates to my project.  
• Open-source digital repository software programs such as DSpace are popular and have active communities.

The conversation gave me a glimpse of what archivists do and how they think about their work. It was helpful regarding my personal project, which is looking more like a data project.