In 2003, Readex began a special partnership with Dartmouth College Library. Readex wished to scan a number of specific maps and color illustrations for our definitive digital edition of the 14,000 volume U.S. Congressional Serial Set—the crown jewel of American government publications. The Serial Set, which contains the Reports, Documents and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, is an exceptional source of primary material on nearly two centuries of American history. To ensure the comprehensiveness of our digital edition, our initial goal was to borrow and scan these items located in the Dartmouth volumes. In 2005, this Dartmouth-Readex partnership expanded from the initial request to a landmark project to preserve the complete print set at the Dartmouth College Library. In addition to enabling Readex to offer researchers the most accurate and comprehensive digital edition available, this unique partnership brought several benefits to the Dartmouth College Library: the cleaning and repair of more than 13,800 volumes, including the critical repair of spines and thousands of fold-out maps; creation of detailed item records for every volume; and invaluable first-hand experience with a large-scale digitization project. At the end of 2013, as a way to summarize the collaborative effort and to say thank you to the many individuals who made it possible, the phenomenal preservation team at Dartmouth College Library created this special book, The U.S. Congressional Serial Set Digitization Project.

2. The
U.S. Congressional Serial Set
Digitization Project

A collaboration of
Readex Corporation
a division of NewsBank, Inc.
and
Dartmouth College Library
2005 - 2013

3. This little book was written for our
partners at Readex Corporation to commemorate
the end of the U. S. Congressional Serial Set
Digitization Project.
The Dartmouth Project Team

4. Government Printing Office book binders 1910

5. The story to preserve and digitize the U. S. Congressional Serial Set
involves many, many people and many, many, many volumes.
June 2009 celebration at
Readex upon reaching the
original project goal.

6. To know the U. S. Congressional Serial Set is to love it.

7. There are almost 16,000
volumes shelved
throughout
the Dartmouth College
Libraries.
Volumes were retrieved from the following libraries:
•Baker Berry Library
•Feldberg Business & Engineering Library
•Kresge Physical Sciences Library
•Dana Biomedical Library
•Sherman Art Library
•Rauner Special Collections Library
•Storage Library

8. What’s inside the
Serial Set:
•Transcontinental Railroad
•Smithsonian Institution Report
•Census Data
•US Geological Surveys
•Requests for Pensions
•War of the Rebellion
•Budgets
•Post Master General Reports
•Patents
Illustration of the silk worm stages
The first test color scan
•Teapot Dome & Watergate

9. Voyages of Discovery…
Perry’s Expedition to
Japan

10. Fascinating birds of a feather.

12. Frightful trips

13. Addresses from Prominent People

14. Brushes…

15. …and the plants from
which they are made.

16. Scientific Experiments…

17. …of all types

18. Animals…

19. …and their insides.

20. Native American Information

21. Along the way we found a remarkable surprise...

22. Original drawing held by the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College.
Osage Dance, 1880 -A scene in a war dance, Kiowas, Pawnees, & Osages participating.
Julian Scott Ledger Artist A. Graphite and colored crayon on laid ledger paper. Purchased through the Robert Strasenburgh II 1942
Acquisition Fund: D.2003.18.2 Provenance: Julian Scott: by descent in the family; sold to Morning Star Gallery Santa Fe, New Mexico,
1986; sold to Mark Lansburgh, Class of 1949, 1986; sold to present collection, 2003. Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New
Hampshire

23. The drawing was reproduced in Serial Set number 3016, page 532.
War Dance, 1890 - Participated in by Kiowas, Osages, and Pawnees. Drawn in color by a Comanche boy at Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita Agency ,
Oklahoma, September 1890. Reproduction of Osage Dance in Report on Indians Taxed and Indians Not Taxed in the United States (Except Alaska) at the
Eleventh Census: 1890 (United States Census Office. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1894) Serial Set volume 3016, p. 532

24. Another surprise…

26. From a little book comes…

27. A very, very big map !

28. How did all this get done?

29. The Process at
Dartmouth:
Shipments consisted
of 60-65 volumes per week.
These would be retrieved in
sequence order from
the stacks.

30. Cleaning the Books:
The books tended to be dusty so
they were vacuumed and dusted.

31. Applying Leather Consolidant
The sheepskin covers had become powdery so each volume was treated
with a 2% Klucel G solution; treatment and date noted on verso of title page.

32. Inventory Control
Inscribe front flyleaf with Serial Set number.

33. Add barcodes

34. The Serial Set had not been linked in the Library’s on-line catalog
so for each volume an item record was created. In this project we
exceeded the system’s limit for item records in a single
bibliographic record – twice!

35. Once the item records were created each volume was checked out to
“Readex Repair” as it came for treatment. This was critical to keep track of
where each volume was located throughout the workflow process
at Dartmouth.

36. There was a lot of processing.

37. In the beginning of the project
we assessed the condition of
each book prior to sending to
Readex for scanning; however,
we discovered that such great
care was being taken at Readex
with each volume that we soon
decided detailed pre and post
scanning reviews were not
necessary.

38. Minimal Repairs
Many volumes had torn pages which were repaired with heat set tissue or
japanese tissue. This was also the case for the hundreds of maps which
needed a lot of mending.

39. Extra Paper to Trim

40. Ready for Readex pick up with Packing Slip
After repairs are done the shipments are wrapped in plastic ready to go to
Readex in Chester, VT.

41. When the books arrived at Readex the
project staff tracked each volume from
the point of receipt from Dartmouth
until it was returned.

42. The Readex Process
At Readex project staff carefully scanned each book on a Kirtas machine.

43. Great care was taken to protect the fragile volumes during the scanning.

44. Quality control was applied throughout
the production to obtain the best
images and confirm completeness of
the volume and the publication.

45. Large maps were placed in on a table and photographed from
above.

46. Throughout the process the volumes were treated with care.

47. The Editorial Team developed vocabulary
to enhance a user’s search experience.

50. When all volumes were accounted for they
were packed and returned to Dartmouth.

51. Returned to Home Base

52. Post Scanning Repairs
Dartmouth staff delayed some
repairs until post scanning. This
allowed the Readex team to
obtain the best scan possible
while minimizing damage to the
book.
Typical treatments included:
•spine lined with japanese tissue
•new spine using morki tissue
•hollow tube

53. Casing in with japanese tissue

54. New Serial Set number labels were made to match the original ones
that had fallen off.

55. Repairs completed ready for final inspection.

56. Ready for the return home to the stacks.

57. Paper is preserved
at Dartmouth
College Library…
…and the digital is
secure at Readex.

58. When it was finished…

59. Project Statistics
Serial Set
Volumes
Pages
Publications
Maps
Journals 115
Journals
ETC
American
State
Papers
Senate
Executive
Journals
15,402
31
106
38
162
11,564,311
26,359
131,705
40,392
172,797
370,205
65
106
6,354
339
74,495

60. Project staff at Readex Corporation and
Dartmouth College Library had preserved
and digitized:
–The American State Papers
–U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1789 - 1995
–Senate Executive Journals
–House and Senate Journals.
11,935,564 total pages
15,739 total volumes

61. The Readex Team 1995 - 2013
Data Conversion, Support & Book transport:
Jim Weeks
Carol Forsythe
Elsa Lamphere
Sharon Knight
Sheila Grey
Jen Knight
Wanda Anderson
Bob Glidden
John Martin
Cherie Marcotte
Kelley Lauren
Karl Lauren
Julie Bartolotta
Patsy Bohen
Brittany Benoit
Buster Warwick
Korrie Heiden

62. The Readex Team 1995 - 2013
Editorial:
Lenore Relihan
Tony Pettinato
Brian Benoit
Ann-Marie Whittaker
Emily Stringham
Ben Hunt
On-going technical support:
Alex Odulo
Dee Sheldon
William Stearns
Claudia Smith
Seamus Dunphy
Corky Farrar
Mellissa Garrow

63. The Dartmouth Team 1995 - 2013
Project Team:
John Cocklin
Wendy Wolfe
Marien Levy
Richard Langdell
Beth Hetland
Elizabeth Rideout
Barb Sagraves
Brian Markee
Tristram Wolff
Matt Agnoli
Ryland Ianelli
Cataloging & Metadata Support
Barb Bushor
Stina McCarthy
Rosie Vanasse

64. The Dartmouth Team 1995 - 2013
Off Site Retrieval Support
Brian Courtemanche Marie Guerin
Todd Minsk
Joanne Messineo
Jim Guay
Phil Garran
Bruce Wiedrick

65. The project teams were supported in
countless ways by the following
individuals:
Readex
Mike Walker
Vicky Gardner
David Braden
August Imholtz
Dan Jones
Dartmouth
John R. James
Richard Lucier
Jeff Horrell
David Seaman
Elizabeth Kirk

66. To you all we say, “ Thank you!”

67. This book was printed at
Dartmouth College Library and
hand bound in
Preservation Services,
July 2013.
Copyright 2013 Trustees of Dartmouth College