Digitisation and Digitalisation

Today, ‘digital’ and ‘digitalisation’ are commonly used terms that appear in many contexts with varying meanings. At Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska högskolan – KTH), as well as in society at large, the concept of digitisation is widely used for business development through digital working methods and technical solutions, enabling people to do entirely new things or the same things in entirely new ways.

The term is also used when analogue information resources are converted into a digital format and made accessible. This transformation involves several stages: digitisation (the conversion), digitalisation (the process), and digital transformation (the effect).

Libraries and archives have traditionally used digital technology primarily for managing, creating, and providing access to information about their collections (metadata) but, for various reasons, have rarely been able to convert the printed collections into digital formats. Nevertheless, the expectations for digital and open access to information resources and sources, both past and present, are steadily increasing. Efforts toward advancement are being made both within the sector and by vendors and other companies, such as Google Books. An example in Sweden for cooperation and progress is the Swedish National Library’s collaborative project Det Svenska Trycket (DST)^[1], a 2020 initiative for digitally accessible printed production.

The Technological Institute, KTH, and its Publishing

KTH, today the largest institution in Sweden for technical education and research, has grown to become an international leading technical university. The origin started almost 200 years ago, with the need for technically knowledgeable persons for the growing Swedish industrial sector. It triggered the Technological Institute’s activity in central Stockholm in 1827, following a government order issued in 1825. The bylaws stated that the teaching should be ‘more popular and practical than scientific.’ The Technological Institute’s first director was Gustaf Magnus Schwartz (1783–1858), a professor of physics at the Royal Academy of Sciences. In the 1846 reorganisation, the institute was given a focus more comparable to that of an engineering education. The institute had, at the time, three professors. On the 50th anniversary, in 1877, the government changed the name of the institute to the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH. In the new bylaws of that year, KTH was organised into professional schools.

In 1911, a parliamentary decision laid the groundwork for a substantial enlargement of KTH. New school buildings and laboratories were built, and a campus was established in Stockholm. New chairs were added, and by 1926, KTH had 34 professors and 130 other teachers. Moreover, in 1927, KTH was given the right to award doctoral degrees.

KTH, like all other higher education institutions, has a long tradition of publishing research results, operational reports, theses, monographs, periodicals, and lists, from the first publication in 1837 by its director (Schwartz, 1837).

Increased publishing activity was noticeable in the 1920s and onwards due to the investment in the expansion and growth of KTH. Moreover, more researchers published their texts in languages other than Swedish and, therefore, found ways to reach out internationally. When the university’s own writing series started in 1947, it further increased publishing in a somewhat broad range of research output. Since 1971, efforts have been made to curb and organise the releases, for example, into many Transactions of the Royal Institute of Technology + A (TRITA) series.

Since 2011, all of KTH’s publications have been digitally published in DiVA,^[2] an institutional repository for research publications and student theses written at 50 universities and research institutes in Sweden. Earlier publications can be found there as well, and some digitised material has been added, such as Schwartz’s publication from 1837. But the vast majority of KTH:s early publishing is still in an analogue form.

The early KTH research results are still relevant and an in-demand knowledge asset. However, unlike many other higher education institutions, KTH has no established tradition of digitising analogue publications. Access to older KTH material depends primarily on the remaining analogue copies, and the coverage is somewhat uncertain and scattered. Theses and other research publications are relatively well represented in the KTH library, where they are available for loan or on-site reading. Some printed KTH materials can be found in the archive or at the schools at KTH or, in the worst case, not at all, requiring external searches.

Efforts have been made over the years to provide an updated overview, a task that KTH would need to continue to prioritise with increasing urgency. The Swedish legislation on legal deposit copies covers almost all published documents in Sweden since 1661, so there is a reasonable chance that missing material could be recovered at the Royal Library (Kungliga Biblioteket) or other research libraries.

Digitalisation at KTH

Digitisation of previous research results or other relevant analogue information is not always included in the strategies for the digital transformation of organisations. It may be a part of the efforts, but digitisation of analogue information materials needs to be specifically emphasised to be recognised as a relevant resource and requirement for a strong and effective research infrastructure. The focus of an upcoming pilot study will be the need of transformation of printed materials into digital formats. To ensure clarity at KTH, the pilot study will address the concept of digitisation as material digitisation.

At KTH, digitisation is one of the four pillars of the institution’s activities, together with sustainability, gender equality, and internationalisation. The vision for a digitalised KTH is as follows: ‘A digitised KTH secures creativity, accessibility, and utility for education and research’ (KTH, 2022). The strategy includes several strategic goals with associated subsidiary goals.

One of the subsidiary goals (2.4.2) focuses on ensuring and implementing the management of KTH’s knowledge assets and will be relevant to the pilot study. This goal is as follows:

The sub-goal is based on the existence of several pilot initiatives and cross-functional collaborations that need to be scaled up and implemented widely to achieve full impact. Developing a common solution for interconnected and interoperable digital research infrastructure presents KTH with a series of decisions regarding strategic direction and funding models for the management, use, and sharing of research data. Investments in digital research infrastructure can also better highlight KTH’s research achievements and create better conditions for KTH’s research results, projects, and knowledge assets (publications, data, code, etc.) to make an impact on society.

Preservation of KTH Collections

Parallel to the possibilities offered by digital accessibility and its many opportunities, another significant reason for the material digitisation of KTH’s older scientific publications is the secure preservation of KTH’s accumulated knowledge heritage. For KTH to provide digital access to and present research results, now and in the future, the conditions for a comprehensive material digitisation project need to be explored.

Digitisation Project – Pilot and Proposal

To ensure that KTH can provide access to and ensure the preservation of its published research throughout the entire period of its practice, the KTH Library has proposed a material digitisation project. This project is not only a relevant task to support research infrastructure but also a suitable goal to reach for KTH’s 200th anniversary in 2027.

A pilot study was planned to be conducted in 2024 to investigate and summarise the conditions and provide a cost estimate for requesting additional funds for this project (digitisation and additional salary funds for associated efforts). The time required for the pilot study was estimated to be three to four months full-time. A prioritised first step was, as mentioned earlier, to summarise an updated inventory and overview of analogue access to KTH’s earlier publications.

Digitisation can be done in many ways. It is a task that requires collaboration between several different competencies, including the library; archive (inventory, selection of supplier, handling, selection, packing, unpacking, file review, cataloguing); information technology (IT; format selection, storage, and access); and legal (clearing any copyright issues and procurement) departments. Digitisation can provide rewarding exchanges and build competencies for all parties, but a clear goal, communication, structure, and coordination are relevant success factors. Extra resources are usually required, especially in the project’s final phase, including reviewing, cataloguing, and providing access after the conversion effort. Furthermore, allocated time for designated persons in the library, archive, IT, and legal departments is needed to provide support and answer questions related to the feasibility study.

In Sweden, the GLAM sector has jointly and nationally worked on overarching priorities and strategies for digitisation work with checklists and support documents that should be followed. A common starting point has been the digital collaboration platform Digisam’s 14 guiding principles regarding the areas of governance, production, use, and preservation (Digisam, 2014). Digisam is no longer an active platform, but the principles are still valid.

Several crucial decisions should be made before a digitisation process can begin.

• What should be digitised? (selection of material)
• Why? (purpose)
• For whom? (stakeholders)
• How? (methods/hardware/software)
• Where? (in-house or external performer)
• When? (timeline)

The first four questions are about strategic choices, whereas the latter three concern practical considerations in connection with the actual implementation.

A preliminary consideration is whether digitisation needs to take place partially on-site at KTH (due to the condition of the material) or if everything can be done by an external service provider. A procurement may need to be carried out, but the digitisation centre of the National Archives in Fränsta is a national resource for authorities in Sweden and can be used if preferred.

Digital ordering competence is needed in the project to design precise requirements specifications with the knowledge of software and technology, file formatting, sizing, and metadata. There is much to learn from other successful projects (including mistakes to learn from and avoid) with summarised recommendations to adapt to the particular conditions the project will face. A prerequisite for the material to be usable is – in addition to open formats and qualitative metadata – clear licensing.

Each digitisation project must handle the issue of secure and long-term storage. Today, we are well aware of the value of digital material but also that digitisation is expensive and resource-intensive. Therefore, it is important to plan for long-term and secure storage so that the digital resources can be used and reused. This process requires high-quality materials and metadata, sustainable formats, and secure systems for the storage of our knowledge assets, as noted in the KTH Digitalisation Strategy 2023–2027’s sub-goals.

Conclusion

Material digitisation is not an end in itself, and it is always crucial for each digitisation effort to have a clear purpose and goal, maintain high quality, and plan for broad use and long-term storage. Ensuring well-kept and openly accessible research and metadata from KTH, past and present, through a digitisation project should be seen as a valuable long-term investment, aligning with the demand for increased digitalisation and development.

References

Abstract

The Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, recognises the relevance of its early research results but lacks a tradition of digitising analogue publications, leading to scattered access, primarily through physical copies. While the KTH library holds the most recent theses and research publications, older materials may be incomplete or require external searches.

To address these gaps, the KTH Library is planning for a material digitisation project, aligning with its Digitalisation Strategy (2023–2027), which emphasises creativity, accessibility, and effective management of knowledge assets. A pilot study will evaluate conditions for digitising printed materials, with an initial focus on updating the inventory of analogue publications.

Successful digitisation will require collaboration across libraries, archives, IT, and legal departments. Key decisions will involve selecting materials, defining purposes, identifying stakeholders, and determining logistics. The project will adhere to the guiding principles established by Digisam, emphasising governance, production, and preservation.

Ultimately, the project aims not only to digitise but also to ensure high-quality, accessible research outputs, thereby preserving KTH’s knowledge heritage for future generations. This initiative is highly relevant for enhancing KTH’s research impact and aligns with the broader demand for increased digitalisation.

Keywords

Material digitisation; Digitisation process; Research heritage; KTH; Digitalisation strategy