The Client
The Bar of Ireland is the representative body for the barristers’ profession in Ireland and sets the professional standards by which all barristers are subject to. For over 200 years, the Bar of Ireland has overseen huge changes to not only the Irish legal system but also to the political landscape of Ireland.
The Problem
Through membership of the Law Library, barristers have access to a collection of over 130,000 items. The library is important to all barristers as it facilitates the sharing of knowledge, experience and administrative resources among fellow barristers.
Within the Law Library archives are several historical volumes that the Bar of Ireland took the decision to digitally capture.
What We Did
This project consisted of 18 volumes of various sizes, including various loose–leaf items of differing sizes.
All the documents were scanned using overhead digital cameras and flatbed equipment to help preserve the integrity of the original documents. Archival care was given to all material handled and scanning processes to optimal quality levels.
Files were captured at 300dpi in uncompressed preservation master TIFF format. From these images, derivative copies were created in JPEG and PDF formats. Two copies of the PDF images were created, one copy with a watermark and one without.
Any typescript data was passed through OCR processing to create a fully searchable text document. The OCR process resulted in an accuracy output that exceeded 97% as required by the customer.
On completion of the project, Mallon had captured 5,877 images. The final JPEG and PDF images were then uploaded to our secure FTP site at the customer’s request.
The Benefits
- The Bar of Ireland can now provide greater access to some of their historical & delicate collections
- New insights can be gained from research conducted on an important national & historical resource
- Text searches can be carried out for keywords or phrases, enabling relevant information to be found quickly & easily
- Multiple users can access information at the same time
- Collections will be preserved & protected for future uses
- A secure digital backup will ensure the collections always remain accessible even in worst–case scenarios