I. Mission
The Presbyterian Historical Society leverages its collections and archival work to galvanize the transformative power of history in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and wider community. The Society’s digital collections, Pearl, supports this work by collecting, managing, preserving, and increasing access to its digitized and born-digital collections. Digital Collections provide congregations, researchers, and the general public with educational and inspirational resources that showcase Presbyterian and Reformed history and its relevance to American history and contemporary life.
II. Scope
The scope of the Digital Collections is guided by the society's Collection Development Policy. In order to provide long-term preservation and access, the scope of the Digital Collections is dependent on technological resources and funding and must necessarily be more narrow and restrictive than that of the physical collections. The Digital Collections are particularly focused on themes related to overseas and national mission work, ecumenical and interfaith activities, education, and social and political issues and activism. Digital Collections include digitized and born-digital records; manuscripts; images; publications, including rare books; sound recordings; and moving images. At this time, access is not provided to digitized congregation or mid council records and most born digital records; however, efforts are being made to preserve this content on separate servers outside of the Islandora digital asset management system [see Digital Preservation Policy for more information]. The collection, management, and preservation of PC(USA) national agency, synod, and presbytery websites using Archive-It is not addressed in this policy.
Inclusion in Digital Collections must be for one or more of the following reasons in addition to meeting the requirements of the selection criteria below.
Preservation
- To reduce handling of fragile or frequently requested collection items.
- To enable bit-level preservation of audio-visual and born-digital items stored on unstable media.
Access
- To provide wider access to popular and/or unique collection items of high research value, enabling remote users to access collections simultaneously.
- To improve access to minimally processed collections with enhanced metadata and improved discoverability.
- To empower users to discover resources without mediation by archival staff.
Outreach
- To strategically support the society's outreach activities, grant-funded or donor-funded projects, or collaborative projects with like-minded institutions.
III. Selection Criteria
A minimum of three criteria should be met in order to be considered a candidate for addition to the Digital Collections. Selection will be made by the Digitization Priorities Team.
Significance |
Items with high historical, cultural, or research value. |
Use |
Items that are heavily used by researchers or for which copies are frequently requested. |
Description |
Items that are already processed or cataloged with existing metadata to draw from and link to. |
Condition |
Items that will produce high quality, legible images. For example, books with tight bindings, torn or fragmented manuscripts, and photomechanical prints that produce moiré patterns are not good candidates for digitization. Consider disbinding or conservation repair prior to digitizing problematic items. If disbinding or repair is not an option, digitization may still be considered in order to prevent further deterioration and increase access to restricted items. |
Funding |
Items that fulfill a grant-funded or donor-funded request as long as the scope of the project fits the collection development policy. |
Non-Duplication |
Items that have not already been scanned and made available freely online unless the quality of the images can be significantly improved. |
Copyright |
Items that are known to be in the public domain or materials determined to be low-risk as indicated by the copyright risk assessment (see copyright assessment section below). |
Completeness |
Items that are scanned completely, i.e. cover-to-cover books, complete archival folders, complete letters, etc. |
IV. Excluded Items
The following items are currently excluded from the Digital Collections unless priorities change or funding and technological resources can be expanded.
- Scan-on-demand requests that do not comply with collection purpose and selection criteria above.
- Copyrighted materials or personally sensitive materials that are deemed "high-risk," unless permission is secured or they can be embargoed.
- "Low-quality" digital assets, i.e. file is overly compressed, illegible, cropped unprofessionally, photomechanical prints that produce moiré pattern.
V. Deaccessioning
Individual digital objects or collections may be withdrawn with the approval of the Digitization Priorities Team. Periodic reappraisal of collections is a legitimate and necessary part of collection development in archives and manuscript repositories, and allows the identification of materials that would not be accepted today or are no longer appropriate to the institution’s mission.
Using archival best practices, the society may deaccession a digital object if:
- It is no longer relevant and useful to the mission of the society.
- It no longer retains its physical integrity, identity, or authenticity (i.e. file corruption).
- It is unnecessarily duplicated in the Digital Collections (i.e. versions of the same file).
- It is found to violate copyright, publicity rights, privacy laws, or donor restrictions (may be embargoed rather than deaccessioned).
VI. Copyright Policy
As part of its mission to leverage its collections and archival work to galvanize the transformative power of history in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and wider community, the Presbyterian Historical Society provides access to items from its collection via its website, digital repository (Pearl), social media, and reproduction services. With a few exceptions, the society does not own copyright to its collection materials and provides access under the Fair Use (17 U.S. Code § 107) exception of U.S. Copyright law (U.S. Code, Title 17) for purposes of "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research." Reproduction and publication of materials protected by copyright for purposes beyond that allowed by fair use require the written permission of the copyright holder. Responsibility for assessing copyright status and for securing any necessary permission rests exclusively with the user.
U.S. Copyright law protects creators’ rights to control the use of their works for a limited period of time. Creators have exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, and display their works, and to create derivative works. In addition to copyright protections, some materials may be subject to restrictions because of privacy and publicity rights, trademark, purchase agreement, or donor stipulation. Foreign-made works may be subject to foreign copyright laws.
VII. Copyright Risk Assessment
A copyright risk assessment guides decisions on whether to make copyrighted, potentially copyrighted, or other sensitive materials publically accessible within the Digital Collections. Copyright risk is defined as the likelihood that publishing protected images without permission would lead to claims of infringement or would expose the society to liability or damage its reputation. Items that are deemed "low risk" can be made accessible without seeking permission from copyright or other rights holders. Items that are deemed "high risk" require seeking permission before being made accessible.
The Fair Use Exemption (17 U.S. Code § 107) of Copyright Law is considered the strongest defense for libraries and archives building digital collections. When choosing copyrighted or other rights protected content for digitization and online publication, a fair use assessment should be made to guide decisions about access to and presentation of the items. It is also important to consider other forms of intellectual property rights, such as trademark; patents; trade secrets; industrial design rights; right of publicity; right of privacy; and defamation (Hirtle, Hudson, Kenyon, 173-174).
Fair Use Checklist
This checklist was designed by Columbia University Libraries and is provided as a tool to assist in making a fair use analysis. The four factors listed in the Copyright Statute are only guidelines for making a determination as to whether a use is fair. Each factor should be given careful consideration in analyzing any specific use. There is no magic formula; an arithmetic approach to the application of the four factors should not be used. Depending on the specific facts of a case, it is possible that even if three of the factors would tend to favor a fair use finding, the fourth factor may be the most important one in that particular case, leading to a conclusion that the use may not be considered fair.
Favoring Fair Use |
Opposing Fair Use |
Purpose |
Purpose |
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Nature |
Nature |
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Amount |
Amount |
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Effect |
Effect |
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Kenneth D. Crews and Dwayne K. Buttler, Fair Use Checklist (New York: Columbia University Libraries, 2008), https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use/fair-use-checklist.html
Risk Assessment Criteria
Criteria |
Indicators of risk |
Questions to ask |
Commercial value |
The material has commercial value for one or more rights holders. Publication of the item would rob rights holders of the ability to profit from the dissemination of their work. |
|
History of litigation |
Copyright or other rights holders have a known history of defense when their works are published without permission. Note: If a fair use argument can be made, the takedown policy and procedure will provide an adequate process for dealing with most copyright, publicity, and trademark complaints. Note: The right of publicity is primarily an economic right, restricted to the commercial use of an individual’s persona. Publicity rights, therefore, should not apply to noncommercial, educational use of a person’s image. (Ibid, 179)
Note: Privacy law protects against unauthorized use of someone’s name or likeness even when there is no commercial use. The standard authority on privacy torts recognizes four types of invasions of privacy: “Intrusion upon seclusion;" Public disclosure of private facts; False light; Appropriation of name or likeness. There are generally three defenses to charges of invasion of privacy: death, newsworthiness, and permission. (Ibid, 181-184) Note: By and large, restrictions specified in contract take precedence over any rights specified in copyright. This is particularly true for the Section 108 libraries and archives exemptions; Section 108(f)(4) states explicitly that nothing in the section overrides any “contractual obligations assumed at any time by the library or archives when it obtained a copy . . . of a work in its collections.” (Ibid, 186) |
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Author's relationship to PHS |
Consider whether the rights holders has a relationship to the institution that justifies extra caution, i.e. a donor, board member, staff member, etc. |
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Peter B. Hirtle, Emily Hudson, and Andrew T. Kenyon, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009), http://hdl.handle.net/1813/14142
VIII. Requesting Permission
The society does not charge licensing or permission fees for publication of items in its collections. In many cases, the society only owns the physical objects in its collection, and copyright has been retained by the creator(s) of the material. Permission must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Whenever possible, the society will provide factual information about potential copyright holders. However, ultimate responsibility for assessing copyright status and for securing any necessary permission rests exclusively with the user. Please see Evaluating Copyright for more information.
The society can grant copyright permission on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the National Council of Churches when these organizations are the sole copyright holder. The society does not grant or deny permission to use works in its collections that are in the public domain.
For questions about copyright status and copyright permission, contact: refdesk@history.pcusa.org or call (215) 627-1852.
IX. Takedown Policy
The Presbyterian Historical Society makes every effort to conform with copyright, privacy, confidentiality, and donor restrictions before content is disseminated. If you claim copyright and believe that the society's use of materials constitutes an infringement or a violation of privacy, you may submit a takedown request.
A takedown request may be initiated by:
- The individual or organization who is the copyright holder.
- The individual or organization who is the subject of the record containing personal or confidential information.
- A legally authorized agent representing the copyright holder or record subject.
To submit a takedown request, please fill out the Takedown Request Form. You can also download a PDF version and email the form to refdesk@history.pcusa.org (link sends e-mail) or mail it to:
Presbyterian Historical Society
Rights and Reproductions
425 Lombard Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Upon receiving a request, the society will begin an investigation into the claim. A resolution will be communicated in writing. If an infringement or privacy violation is determined to have occurred, the item(s) in question will be taken down until the applicable intellectual property rights have expired.
X. Supported File Formats
In general, all proprietary file formats should be converted to open formats for preservation.
Text Formats
Format |
Extension |
Notes |
PDF/A |
|
Convert Microsoft formats to PDF/A (.doc, .docx, .rtf) |
CSV |
.csv |
Convert Microsoft formats to CSV (.xlt, .xls) |
Plain text |
.txt |
Use US-ASCII or UTF-8 |
XML |
.xml |
Include DTD, check validity |
Image Formats
Format |
Extension |
Notes |
TIFF |
.tif |
No compression. Use for master file. |
JPEG |
.jpg |
Compressed. Use for derivative. Generated automatically by Islandora. |
JPEG2000 |
.jp2 |
Compressed. Use for derivative. Generated automatically by Islandora. |
Audio Formats
Format |
Extension |
Notes |
WAVE |
.wav |
Use for master file. |
MPEG-3 |
.mp3 |
Compressed. Use for derivative. Generated automatically by Islandora. |
Video Formats
Format |
Extension |
Notes |
MPEG-4 |
.mp4 |
Use for master file (no compression) and derivative (with compression). Derivative is generated automatically by Islandora. |
MOV |
.mov |
Master format (not currently saved on Islandora server). |
XI. Scanning Specifications
The following image capture guidelines and file formats are modeled on FADGI's Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials and apply to the digitization of all objects from the PHS collections, including those items scanned for Digital Image Requests, preservation, exhibits, and all PHS communications.
When scanning historical objects, master files should maintain the essential features and information of the original, documenting the image at the time of scanning (not what it may have looked like originally).
Select scanning resolution for master TIFFs based on format and size:
Photographic prints: Black and White, Monochrome, and Color Reflection Scanning |
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Size |
Resolution |
B&W/ grayscale |
Color and Monochrome (albumen prints and other historic prints) |
8” x 10” |
400 dpi |
8-bit grayscale (Grey Gamma 2.2) |
24-bit RGB mode (Adobe RGB 1998)
|
5” x 7” |
570 dpi |
8-bit grayscale (Grey Gamma 2.2) |
24-bit RGB mode (Adobe RGB 1998) |
4” x 5” |
800 dpi |
8-bit grayscale (Grey Gamma 2.2) |
24-bit RGB mode (Adobe RGB 1998) |
2” x 2” |
1200 dpi |
8-bit grayscale (Grey Gamma 2.2) |
24-bit RGB mode (Adobe RGB 1998) |
Photographic Film: Black and White, Monochrome, and Color Transmission Scanning |
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Size |
Resolution |
B&W/ grayscale |
Color and Monochrome (glass plate negs, lantern slides, stained negs) |
35mm to 4 x 5” |
3000 dpi |
8-bit grayscale (Grey Gamma 2.2) |
24-bit RGB mode (Adobe RGB 1998)
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4 x 5” and larger |
1500 dpi |
8-bit grayscale (Grey Gamma 2.2) |
24-bit RGB mode (Adobe RGB 1998) |
Textual Documents/Prints |
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B&W, clean, high contrast, printed type (typed, typeset, laser printed, etc.) |
B&W, poor legibility or diffuse characters, handwritten annotations, low contrast, staining, fading, halftone illustrations or photographs (carbon copies, thermofax, etc.) |
Color is important to the interpretation of the information |
1-bit bitonal, 400dpi, or 8-bit grayscale, 300 dpi |
8-bit grayscale, 300 dpi |
24-bit RGB mode (Adobe RGB 1998), 300 dpi |
Reproduction of Artwork |
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Size |
Resolution |
Colorspace, ICC profile |
any |
10,000 pixels on long dimension |
Adobe RGB 1998 |