Case study
Kitodo opens up important sources on Carl Orff
The Orff Center Munich was founded in 1990. The key mission of the center is “to encourage the active study of the life and works of the composer Carl Orff’”. An important step in this process is the digitization of historical documents using color scanners and the Kitodo workflow software.
The center collects, maintains and archives documents on Carl Orff (1895-1982). The estate’s existence is thanks to the foresight of the composer and the commitment of his wife Liselotte (1930-2012).
The Bavarian State Library will keep the fair copies of his works – the original handwritten scores – for reasons of conservation.
Extensive archive material about Carl Orff
The entire documentary components and a large proportion of Carl Orff’s artistic estate are located in the archives of the Orff Center Munich and on permanent loan from the Carl Orff Foundation. These include personal documents such as certificates, diplomas, diaries, calendars and documents on his work, handwritten notes and drafts of text for lectures and essays.
Around 650 portraits, rehearsal, stage and performance photos are stored in the photo archives. The collection of sketches fills around 100 folders and contains autograph designs by Orff for his stage work, orchestral and chamber music as well as his songs.
Another mission of the Orff Center is to open up the collection and archive material and make it available for a variety of purposes, including research, theater and music practice as well as for music education and media. Digitization is a key element of this.
Documenting, cataloging and preserving
The project: The digitization project in the Orff Center pursues two main objectives: the first is to backup the data and the second is to perform a reasonable initial cataloging. The majority of photos will be used in collection documentation for in-house and scientific purposes. Only a small portion of this digitized media will be created with a view to publication, and only after the explicit consent of the rights holder.
The digitization workflow works in accordance with DFG practice rules: planning, conservation review, digitization, quality control, storage, initial cataloging and administration, imaging, preparation and use, long-term archiving.
Originals and manuscripts that are unique pieces and of high cultural value have been assessed and surveyed in advance in order to select the right recording process for digitization. The aim was to prepare the digitized media in such a way that a reasonable initial cataloging and the corresponding imaging create a basis that is as ideal as possible for scientific in-depth cataloging at a later stage.
Kitodo used for production and presentation
The hard and software: scanners are to be used for the protective digitization (color overhead scanners OS 10000 A 1 and OS 15000 Advanced Plus A 3 plus from the ZEUTSCHEL company) as well as a digital camera. The Orff Center has opted to use the open-source software KITODO for production processes and imaging of the digitized media.
All file formats used by the Orff Center are typical standard formats. This also applies to the METS/MODS format of the xml-files, which has established itself as the current standard for describing (structure and metadata) digitized media.
In protective digitization, the facsimile page images of the respective archival category are retained as a result of the scanning process. Individually accessible, they are generally independent of all subsequent processing steps (e.g. allocation of structure elements and metadata) and other units of information, and stored and displayed as originals (raw data, 400 dpi).
An automatic and server-independent backup of the digitized media is conducted in-house by means of a NAS system and externally in the IT service center of the Free State of Bavaria.
Storage and use: Some of the units in the collection will have precision-made dielines made from acid-free paper designed for the packaging (covers) and inserts, printed with key information on the digitized media and a bar or QR code. The Orff Center will shortly be furnishing the scientists with tablets for research purposes. This will allow them to move around the building freely (the estate is stored in different places) and to control the desired archive records by means of a QR code in the Kitodo.Presentation.