Laying a Foundation for Digital Collections at the Property Information Resource Center

Over a decade ago, the Harvard University Property Information Resource Center (PIRC) began digitizing its entire collection of more than a hundred thousand architectural drawings documenting the construction of the oldest university in the United States. Challenges and successes materialized throughout the project relating to the PIRC's mission, service level, and collection dependencies. Continuing to meet users' demanding needs while learning and revising best practices was ambitious yet ultimately achievable. In addition to producing high-quality images for digital preservation, secondary positive outcomes of the project were the conservation of drawings, improvements to the reference process, and the ability to expand these services beyond the traditional user group. To achieve the project goals, staff created a flexible workflow that ameliorated the condition of physical drawings in the collection while allowing them to uphold an established user service level agreement.