The Wellcome Library is digitizing its medical archives to create an online resource. It aims to digitize 1.1 million pages from its own collections and 500,000 pages from external partners. Digitizing involves flattening, removing staples from, and photographing archives page-by-page. Sensitive personal information will be restricted from public access online and require registration. Non-sensitive open access material over 100 years old can be freely accessed, while newer material requires registration.

1. Creating an Online Resource for
Medical Archives at the Wellcome Library
Christy Henshaw
Programme Manager - Wellcome Digital Library
Libraries@cambridge Conference 2012

2. The Wellcome Trust
• A global charitable foundation
• Achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health
• Supporting the brightest minds in biomedical research and the
medical humanities
• Exploring medicine in historical and cultural contexts

3. The Wellcome Library
The Wellcome Library
• Major resource for the study of medical history
• Collections of books, manuscripts, archives, films and pictures on the
history of medicine from the earliest times to the present day.
• Provide insight and information to anyone seeking to understand
medicine and its role in society, past and present.
• Provide access to a growing collection of contemporary biomedical
information resources relating to consumer health, popular science,
biomedical ethics and the public understanding of science.

4. The Wellcome Library

5. The Library Transformation Strategy
2009 - 2014
To provide global access to, and expert interpretation of, a world
class collection that explores medicine in its cultural contexts
• Targeted collecting – putting challenges in context
• Expert interpretation – engaging (new) audiences
• Strategic digitisation – online access to our collections

6. The Wellcome Digital Library Pilot
Genetics and its Modern Foundations 2010-2013
A new online resource for everyone interested in the history of
human and animal health.
Aims
• build sustainable/expandable mechanism – foundation stone
for WDL
• digitise key library holdings - relating to a major Trust
challenge area
• digitise important third party content – linked to theme
• use innovative content and tools – to encourage discovery and
use
• explore commercial partnerships – enhance access to nontheme material

7. Archival material – 1.1m images
Wellcome Library - 600,000 images
External – 500,000 images

8. Books related to genetic research - 600,000 images

9. ProQuest, Early European Books – 5.5m images

10. Medical Officer of Health reports – 400,000 images

11. Born digital material – initially small but growing

12. Digitising archives – key tasks
2 years – 10 collections – 600k pages
Physical preparation
• Flattening
• Check sequence of items
• Protect fragile items with sleeves
• Remove staples
• 0.6 FTE
Digitisation
• Complete “cover to cover” digitisation
• Canon digital cameras (medium format)
• 2 FTE

13. Digitising archives – managing users
Managing information
• Make clear which items are not available in the catalogue(s)
• Maintain up-to-date list online
• Keep up-to-date schedule on staff wiki
Reducing impact
• Good understanding of timing built over time
• Remove items for shortest possible time
• Include a good buffer in advertised “unavailability” time
• Set targets/batches based on complete series (if possible)

14. External partners
1.5 years – 9 collections – 500k pages
• Churchill Archives Centre
• Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory
• KCL
• University of Glasgow
• UCL
Wellcome Trust provides the funding, digitisation
managed by and carried out at the host institutions.

15. Sensitivity and archives – access policy

16. Sensitivity and archives – overview
Archives commonly contain the following types of content that may be
sensitive:
• Personal information
• Private information
• Medical information
• Personal opinions
• Formal assessments of others
• Clinical images or other visual content

17. Assessing sensitivity - overview
10,000 files with ca. 1.1m pages of content – impossible to read
everything
Analyse series level metadata for sensitivities
Determine level of checking required for risky series (usually a
percentage, or number of files)
Check items
Determine whether further checking is required
Carry out further checking
Record items to be suppressed (may be entire file)

20. Sensitivity and archives – online access
Access category
Sensitivity
Online availability
Open (>100 years old)
Non-sensitive
Open access
Open (<100 years old)
Non-sensitive
Registration only access
Closed
Highly sensitive
No access
Restricted
Some sensitivity
Access with special
permission in the Library
only

21. Sensitive items
Examples of content we would restrict from online access:
• Reference letters about a 3rd party less than 60 years old
• Job and grant applications submitted by a 3rd party less than 30 years old
• Letters or notes discussing someone’s
• Mental health
• Debilitating diseas
• Sexual orientation
• Race/ethnicity
Information may not be sensitive if it is in the public domain.

22. Registration
Registration requires a user to provide an email address and agree to a
set of Terms of Conditions of Use (still in draft) that will include
something along these lines:
I will not make any use of personal data on living persons that contravenes
s.33 of the Data Protection Act 1998. In particular, I will not use the
information obtained from archival material:
(a) to support measures or decisions with respect to particular individuals;
(b) in such a way that substantial damage or distress is, or is likely to be,
caused to any data subject.

23. Reuse
Distribution and reuse is encouraged within the parameters of the Terms
and Conditions:
• Complies with Copyright Law and Data Protection Act
• Acknowledges copyright holder(s)
• Non-commercial
Viewing, zooming, downloading, sharing, printing: all permissible.
Accessing high resolution images (i.e. TIFFs) will incur an administration
fee.
Use for commercial purposes may incur a fee.

24. Thank you!
Christy Henshaw
c.henshaw@wellcome.ac.uk
Useful links
Access policy: goo.gl/WPVww
Archives digitisation: goo.gl/T1RS9
WDL information: goo.gl/uR5OI