JEFFERSON COUNTY
Digital Preservation
Scope of Work and Project Specifications for: Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder’s Office. Ginger Kunz, Clerk and Recorder/Assessor
And Jefferson County District Court. Dori Woods, Clerk of District Court
Date: March 15th, 2023
Project Name: Digital Preservation and Searchable Archive for: Index to County Commission Minutes and Commissioners Record/Journal; Patent Record Index and Record;
Index to Records and Deed Records in merged analog, aperture card and 16-mm formats.
Project Overview and Objectives
Jefferson County is requesting bids on the digital capture of a collection of the above-named historical materials in bound and pinned books as well as aperture card film and 16-mm films.
1. Secure in digital format essential historical county records to protect against natural disaster, water, fire loss and general deterioration of the original books.
2. Improve office efficiency in accessing these records via a web-based digital archive with customer-friendly digital search features and future ability to enable remote E-Commerce customer access.
3. As is possible through the digital imaging process, provide enhancement of image quality representative of original pages.
4.Incorporate a high-functioning Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system able to service the entirety of each defined records category (e.g., Commissioner Records, Deed Records).
5. Provide direct-document access between Indexes and Records in categories of Commissioner, Patent and Land Record documents.
6. Create a fully-indexed and functional search/retrieval process for users of our historical record collection by book/page without any back-indexing required of Clerk and Recorder staff.
The project scope includes Commissioners record books in the following categories:
• Index to Minutes of the County Commissioners – 1 volume
• Commissioners Record/Journal – 14 volumes
Also, Land Record materials in the following categories:
• Patent Record Index – 3 volumes
• Patent Record – 9 volumes
• Index to Records – 22 volumes
• Deed Records: Bound (67), pinned (60), aperture cards (2), 16-mm format (38)
At its discretion, the County may opt to include additional 16-mm format cassettes (245). Please note the discretionary digitization with the capture, indexing, processing, quality control, output, repository and research system requirements listed below in your response.
Capture & Indexing Requirements
• Some books are very fragile. Capture equipment must be equipped with an air vacuum system to maximize quality, minimize page wrinkles, and maximize capture of any information in bound book “gutters.”
• Photostatic and film images with white text on black background will be reversed to black characters on lighter background.
• Capture of books will be on-site at Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder’s office suite for document security and access during the project. Jefferson County will provide a suitable physical location, but vendor will provide all equipment and staff.
• Bound books cannot be disassembled or have their bindings altered for the digitization of their content.
• Pinned books can be disassembled for digitization of the pages. However, the pages must be reassembled/returned to their binding in the correct order.
• All pages to be captured from each book unless specifically noted in the agreed upon Job Plan.
• Attachments and/or loose pages within a book will be captured in the location as found.
• All pages that contain color must be captured in a color image format.
• File naming will incorporate the book name and page number.
• Index books will incorporate alpha character designation.
Process & Quality
Control Requirements
• Complete Job Plan will be developed by Vendor and approved by County prior to production start.
• Vendor will provide the Company with detailed inventory of contents of each book to be imaged prior to production start.
• The clarity and legibility for each record image will meet or exceed the clarity and legibility of the original paper record.
• The metadata has been correctly assigned/tagged to the correct image.
• Vendor to visually review 100% of images as a post-process quality-control step (completed twice) and correct any issues found.
• Vendor to include Optical Character Recognition (OCR) processing of all typed pages for enhanced searching tools for researchers.
Output Requirements
• A complete set of back-up images will be delivered to the County removeable hard drives with the following image requirements: Web-optimized image @ 96 DPI, 24- bit RGB color, PDF/A format with all metadata and OCR of typed text (as required) imbedded in the image. A web-optimized thumbnail image is included for each individual file as well.
Historical Archive Repository and Research System Requirements
• The Vendor will provide an on-line, hosted platform for retrieval purposes. This access image repository (referred to as the Research System) will meet the following specifications:
• The Research System must be secure and able to be accessed by staff and any public terminals within the Clerk and Recorder’s office.
• The research system must provide a minimum of three search capabilities:
1) Browse navigation to review all pages within a book including drop-down filters for: Book Name and Alpha Letter (for any index pages in a book).
2) A Phrase/Boolean search capability for text-searches. Depending on the search requirement the system must be able to return a specific record and/or a group of records.
3) Direct Navigation utilizing record Metadata that will display a specific record based on a requested Book/Page.
• Ability to print or save PDF images and combine up to 10 pages into a multi-page PDF for research project efficiencies.
• The research system must include an off-premises backup system that will ensure restoration of any lost/damaged images.
• In-person and/or on-line training for staff of research site functionality.
• County expects to utilize the Research Site for a minimum of a year from project completion and any costs associated with the Research Site should be included in the project quote. Any costs associated with the Research Site for subsequent years should be detailed in the bid response.
Note: On site imaging work must be accomplished within 20 working days.
The award will be made to the most qualified offeror whose proposal is deemed most advantageous to the County, after the consideration of all applicable factors. Unsuccessful offerors will be notified in a timely manner.
Questions and responses should be directed to the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder, P.O. Box H, 102 South Monroe, Boulder, MT 59632, 406-225-4020. Responses must be received in the office of the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder no later 5:00 p.m. on March 31, 2023. The response packet should clearly state “Digital Preservation “on the outside of the packet.
This Request for Proposal is being made in accordance with state and federal statutes which govern the procurement of professional services by local government. Accordingly, the County reserves the right to negotiate a contract based upon fair and reasonable compensation for the scope of work and services proposed. The County further reserves the right to reject all responses it deems incomplete, unqualified, unsatisfactory, or inappropriate.
Legal 23-021 Published in the Boulder Monitor March 15 & 22, 2023
MNAXLP
