Armed with this information, Chelsea District Library took a look
at the Family History Index. While the cards had been stored away
from the light in filing drawers, they also had been used heavily by
patrons over the years, resulting in some wear and tear. In addition,
neither the index cards nor the glue were acid free, and newsprint is
one of the most acidic papers. The oldest cards and the oldest
clippings dated back to the 1950s, resulting in some that were in very
delicate condition. Along with the unique and irreplaceable nature of
the collection, this delicate condition led the library director to decide
that the cards should be scanned manually in-house rather than sent
to a contractor who would likely feed them into a scanner, possibly
resulting in damage.
This decision meant significant labor for library staff members
and volunteers. In May 2005, the library applied for a grant from the
State of Michigan to fund the digitization, which would have allowed
for the hiring of contractors, but the application was turned down.
Luckily, the library already had a well-established volunteer services
program. Lacking any funding beyond $5,000 committed by the
library, the project manager developed a volunteer-driven plan and
made the choice to seek an open source solution for the database,
resulting in savings on the equipment side. An RFP was opened to
competitive bidders in the fall of 2005, with selection of a contractor
and design and testing of the database completed by early 2006.
During this time, the library also made decisions about the scope
of the project. While the collection itself was estimated to consist of
more than 50,000 cards, closer to 25,000 obituaries were
represented, due to Jones’ system of cross-referencing women by
maiden name. A database eliminated the need for this. The remaining
set of obituaries came from a number of sources: