Services
Fees and costings
The Centre offers a digitisation service at archival level for paper-based, photographic, audio and audio-visual materials. DCWA offers fee-based service to clients, i.e. collection custodians in three tiers: partners, associates and external clients. Variation in costings reflect the type of ongoing client relationship.
- Partners – those institutions who originally were part of the DCWA project and have continued to make a direct cash contribution to its operation.
- Associates – Australian publicly funded researchers, Government organisations, Not-for-profit organisations and charities.
- External – Commercial and industry - members of the public.
Formats offered
| Paper-based | All sizes bound or unbound paper-based items up to A1 |
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Transmissive photography |
Slides, negatives, glass plates |
| Audio | Cassette tapes, Microcassette, DAT, 1/4" Reel, MiniDisc, Vinyl, Audio CD |
| Video | VHS, U-matic, Hi8/Video 8, DV/MiniDV, Betamax, Betacam, BetacamSP, DigiBeta |
| Film | 8mm, Super8, 16mm, 35mm |
| Optical | CD and DVD, 3 1/2" and 5 1/4" Floppy Disks, 100 MB and 250MB Zip Disk* |
DCWA standards are based on best practice principals used by several Australian institutions such as National Archives of Australia, National Library of Australia, and the National Film and Sound Archives of Australia.
DCWA adheres to national and international standards organisations’ recommendations, including the International Association of Sound and Audio-Visual Archives (IASA) and the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF).
* The digitisation equipment for floppy disks and zip disks is undergoing testing. Please contact the Centre for more details.
Workflow
1. Plan
To start your digitisation project, contact DCWA to discuss and book in your digitisation project. This planning process will include discussions on the digital file outcomes (i.e., derivatives, access copies), method of transfer and rough project timelines. If you are unsure what your project needs, our knowledgeable staff are happy to help inform digitisation parameters.
2. Prepare
The client will select and prepare collections items for digitisation. It is also recommended for the transfer of large data created by DCWA, to plan ahead and organise long term storage of digital files. Planning will also include completion of DCWA documents that outline the scope of the work, provide spreadsheets of items being received by the centre and provide cultural protocols if applicable. If objects require professional conservation it is highly recommended to complete this prior to digitisation.
Note: Items that require further preparation by DCWA will be charged at an hourly rate.
3. Deliver to DCWA
The DCWA coordinator will discuss when to deliver your items for digitisation. Collections received by DCWA are held in secure storage area within the DCWA dispatch room.
4. Digitisation
DCWA staff will carry out digitisation which includes the capture, quality checks and transfer to the clients digital transfer option.
5. Collect and File Transfer
Once digitisation has been completed, the DCWA coordinator will contact the client to collect their collection items.
To collect digitised content, custodians can utilise DCWA hard drives or provide their own digital transfer option such as cloud. Digitised content is held by DCWA until the collection owner has confirmed the files have been successfully transferred to their local storage solution. It is encouraged to have files transferred within 30 days of receiving. Long term storage, preservation, management and discoverability of the digitised collections is the responsibility of the collection owners.
Facilities
DCWA facilities are include the main centre (Room 2.14, Building 446) and dispatch room on the ground level at Barry Marshal Library at UWA, and the audio studio located on level 2 at the State Library of Western Australia.
DCWA is a fit-for-purpose facility with:
- State of the art equipment
- Climate-controlled spaces
- Special lighting controls
- Secured entry and security cameras installed
- Rigorous protocols for pest control
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Temporary Digital Storage
DCWA provides short term digital storage. To best prepare to transfer large data created by DCWA, plan and organise long term storage of digital files.
To collect digitised content, custodians can utilise DCWA hard drives or provide their own digital transfer option such as cloud.
Digitised content is held by DCWA until the collection owner has confirmed the files have been successfully transferred to their local storage solution.
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Conservation and Object Handling
Collection material will have basic preparation in the dispatch room before moving into the centre for digitisation. Once digitised items will be returned to the secure storage facility before being returned to the collection owners.
DCWA encourage clients to consult a professional conservator for objects that require more advanced preparation. The AICCM provide a list of Australian based conservators.
The dispatch room is located on the ground floor of Barry Marshal Library. The loading bay and available DCWA trolleys allow clients to safely deliver their collections to the centre.
Get in touch
Locations
Main digitisation laboratory
Level 2, Barry J Marshall Library (Room 2.14, Building 446),
University of Western Australia
Crawley campus.
Dispatch room
Ground level Barry J Marshall Library for receiving and storing collections.
DCWA sound studio
Level 2 of the State Library of Western Australia in the Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge