This site is intended to help NARA staff decide on the appropriate product(s) for various types of reformatting projects. The three product categories defined (preservation master, reproduction master, and distribution copy) meet specific needs, but there are limitations on the extensibility of each one. The expectation is that the final set of products is robust enough to meet or exceed the needs of most customers, but also is concise enough to be produced efficiently and consistently. Each product includes technical specifications to assure that NARA’s products align with industry standards, institutional guidelines and published best practices. Our outline of available services demonstrates how the staff of the Digitization Services Branch use their subject matter expertise to help NARA meet its strategic goals and individual projects meet their objectives.

• Defining Key Concepts: Products vs. Services
• How Do You Know What Product is Right for Your Project?

This site is organized into four major sections: Reformatting Approaches, Original Record Type, Digitization Services Branch, and File or Copy Type. Reformatting Approaches describe technical approaches to digitizing different record types at NARA, and also describe the capture specifications that are followed for each record type and details about the specific products created for different digitization purposes. Original Record Type provides basic definitions for the different record types that the Digitization Services Branch is engaged in reformatting. The Digitization Services Branch section describes the nature of the work and the goals of each lab, and also includes additional information about products and services that each lab provides. The File or Copy Type section describes the types of files that the branch produces, including definitions for preservation master files, reproduction master files, and distribution files, as well as information about the different file formats that the branch creates.

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