MSL Home > For State Employees > State Publications > State Publication Digitization Initiative
State Publication Digitization Initiative
Scanned by Internet Archive
Convenience!
The Montana State Library will digitize the entire legacy print collection of state agency publications. For those who can't wait, digital copies will be scanned on demand.
In the first year of a multi-year project, the State Library will digitize over 600,000 pages. When completed, full-text PDF versions of state publications from the 1870’s to the present
will be available via the online library catalog.
How can I get these digital state publications?
Search the Montana State Library catalog, WorldCat 
, Internet Archive , Montana Memory Project, or Google . In addition to the growing number of legacy publications that are newly digitized, you can get the many digital state publications that have been produced by agencies in recent years.
What is scan-on-demand?
Find a state publication in our catalog that is on our shelf, but not yet online. We will make available to you the complete digital version for free within 72 hours (hardbound state publications make take longer). Scan on demand services are made possible by the Secretary of State's Records and Information Management Division
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Why digital?
- What if I prefer to use the print publications?
- What is digitization?
- How many publications need to be digitized?
- How long will it take?
- In what order are the state publications being digitized?
- Who is performing digitization?
- How are digital state publications preserved from loss?
- How does MSL assure quality control for its digital objects?
Why digital?
The majority of state employees, and, of course, Montana citizens, live and work outside of Helena. If you can access state publications online, it's not necessary for you to drive to a depository library or the state library to use state publications. Providing digital access to state publications means that they are accessible anywhere, anytime from any place with Internet access. Also, digital access reduces wear and tear on print versions of state agency publications.
What if I prefer to use the print publications?
All state publications accessed online may be printed, saved, emailed, etc. Use them as you prefer. Additionally, as state publications are digitized, print versions are being transferred to the Montana Historical Society . Persons who want access to the original versions can use them at the Historical Society Research Center located one block west of the Montana State Library. MHS has the expertise to ensure the material conservation of the print publications.
It is the process of converting information in an analog format like print, VHS, microform, or audio cassettes into a digital format.
How many publications need to be digitized?
There are an estimated 52,000+ items in the MSL state publications collection. Some of these items are second copies and some already exist in digital format. Therefore, not all 52,000 known items will be digitized. But the number that are digitized could well be larger. Over the years the State Library has not received all state publications produced by agencies. In order to create as complete a collection as possible, this digitization process will necessarily involve coordination with all agencies to identify publications that we may otherwise miss.
How long will it take?
A minimum of five years is anticipated.
In what order are the state publications being digitized?
Our pilot project digitized the 200 oldest publications from the 1870's and the 200 most circulated publications. The ongoing digitization project is moving from the beginning of the collection to the end in Dewey Decimal Classification order.
Other than scan-on-demand, who is performing the digitization?
Montana State Library has partnered with the Internet Archive’s Open Content Alliance to digitize the majority of legacy state agency publications. Publications are shipped to their digitization center in California where digitizers (see the image above) create digital publications using digital cameras that minimize wear and tear on the documents.
How are digital state publications preserved from loss?
The Internet Archive permanently stores the files for our digital state publications on their web servers at sites in San Francisco, CA, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Alexandria, Egypt. The MSL downloads these same digital files from the Internet Archive and stores them on our SAN (storage area network) which is backed up on magnetic tape. Furthermore, the MSL uploads these same files to our digital repository called the Montana Memory Project on web servers located in Ohio which are also backed up. This digital repository meets an ISO (International Standards Organization) standard called OAIS (Open Archives Information System). Finally, MSL is working to develop our own local dark archive for digital masters, possibly LOCKSS or the OCLC Digital Archive.
How does MSL assure quality control for its digital objects?
MSL partner, the Internet Archive, guarantees that each scanned document is checked by their staff through a rigorous quality control process. This process was recently vetted in a white paper published by the Council on Library and Information Resources and the Internet Archive was found to be among the best scanning resources available. See that article here: Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization. Additionally, MSL staff checks the scanned files at random with the idea that if a problem is found, MSL will go back and check individual files. Thus far, MSL has found no problem files.
