As part of a digitization project, some post-production is necessary to obtain surrogates that match the original’s detail, sharpness, and tonal range. The nature of the project governs the amount of processing required.

Archives consider both in-house and outsourced labor options for digitization projects. 

A selection policy is a core component of a digital project. Archivists must validate their selection procedures for digitization, especially with the increase in collaborations for digital projects. 

Prior to archival digitization, archivists should be aware of areas of concern, and remember that different international laws apply to these problematic categories. 

Selection is an indispensable tool for digitization. Archivists apply their knowledge to selection criteria, matching institutional priorities to their collections, resulting in a representation of history with enduring value.

Interpolation is the process of creating missing data, often used to create new pixels to insert into an image or to choose which pixels to remove from a resized image to keep the resolution and ensure that the image does not pixelate. 

There is a fundamental difference between two types of light mixtures that complicates the reproduction of images on monitors or in print. 

Archival repositories can generate surrogates for various purposes, such as PDFs for print reproduction, JPEGs for online display, and TIFFs for storage. 

The hundredth copy of a digital image is indistinguishable from its progenitors. Electronic copies suffer no degradation through the duplication process, unlike other forms of copying, such as facsimiles. A copy of a digital image is indistinguishable from its source, while the original can lose its meaning in this electronic world. 

If done correctly, digitization can help archival repositories become more user-centric and higher performing. 

Archivists can accelerate their gains from digitization by presenting a business case for digital transformation to those who lead their organizations. 

The appetite for digital materials seems infinite, as institutions scan or photograph bound materials, manuscripts, artwork, maps, translucent materials such as film or glass plate negatives, textiles, artifacts, and specimens.