15 years - wow! That's quite a project. Nice work on thinking ahead back then, @Kim Henze. So, while it's not something I've personally done, I do know that outsourcing something like this can absolutely help you increase throughput. In my experience with other projects (on both sides of the situation), I've found it works best as a structured partnership. In this case, I'd suggest making sure you keep intellectual control over standards and metadata, and the vendor focuses on capture at scale.
First, for a museum photo archive your size, it helps to treat this like a conservation‑grade service, not a consumer photo‑scanning box. So again, I haven't done this so I don't have recommendations on who (I'm curious to see if others do though!), here are some key questions I'd keep in mind when looking for the right vendor.
Technical standards
What resolutions and bit depth can they guarantee (e.g., minimum dpi, color space, TIFF vs JPEG, per FADGI/Metamorfoze guidelines)?
How do they handle color targets, calibration, and quality control (QC) across batches?
Handling and logistics
Will they scan onsite (in your space) vs. shipping offsite, and what are their chain‑of‑custody, insurance, and environmental controls if materials travel?
How do they manage fragile, oversized, or unique items, and what is their documented incident process for damage or loss?
Workflow and metadata
How will item‑level identifiers travel from your finding aids/collection management system into the filenames and delivered metadata?
Can they deliver simple, structured metadata (e.g., CSV/XML with your IDs, file paths, basic technical data) that you can then crosswalk into your collections DAM or CMS?
Rights and IP
Who owns the digital files and what usage rights, if any, does the vendor retain? Heritage sector guidance strongly recommends ensuring you retain full rights and long‑term preservation copies.
Hopefully that's helpful as others weigh in and offer suggestions. Cheers!
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Dan Moyle
Solutions Consultant
Digital Reach Online Solutions
(he/him/his)
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-25-2025 07:31 AM
From: Kim Henze
Subject: Outsourcing Scanning of Photo Collection
We are a regional history museum. We have a photo archive of over 1,000,000 images and have been working for the last 15 years toward the goal of digitizing the archive. We currently have roughly 370,000 images fully digitized (high res scans with metadata, accessible online to the public). We are looking into ways to increase our clip of digitization. Does anyone here have experience with or recommendations for outsourcing image scanning?
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Kim Henze
Director of Museum Operations
The Durham Museum
Omaha NE
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