For the second installment of our Best Practices for eLibrary series, we’re going to examine how content drives many decisions involved with creating and using an eLibrary. Knowing your product, from media content to published format, will not only make your decision clearer, but the process of adopting an eLibrary much less daunting.

The first question to ask in relation to content considerations is around format. Do you have a stack of magazine back-issues or newspaper archive that doesn't currently exist in digital format? Many publishers encounter this problem and see it as a major roadblock in transitioning content online. However, there are a variety of ways to have your content digitized with or without optical character recognition. Commonly known as OCR, this character recognition usually adds time to the process, but provides users with a far superior experience in the long run by allowing in-document searching. There are many different ways to digitize print versions, and your eLibrary provider should have partners and specific suggestions to meet your needs.

If your content is already in digital form, you’ve saved yourself a step but not necessarily a headache. PDF format is generally accepted everywhere, and each provider should have specific guidelines to help you optimize these files. However, you will want to consider the expandability of your library for support for other formats and new workflows.

Now that we have the format sorted out, the next thing we must look at is the content itself. With many traditional archives users have to download files and view them on their desktop, but an eLibrary should allow them to view everything within a single interface, without forcing the user to download anything. If you produce lengthy journals with in-depth analysis and statistics, your users will likely need to search for keywords within the documents and across your archives. If you produce full-spread magazines your readers may want to experience reading as they do on paper today with all the effects of flipping through a magazine. Whether your audience is on-the-go or just needs slightly larger text, a zoom function should be included in any option.

Ultimately, figuring out the answers to these questions will allow you to better ask your own questions to eLibrary providers and deliver the appropriate solution to your company and clients.