# What to Scan First Checklist

Prioritize items whose context may disappear, then create readable copies and check your backup.

Use privately with your family. Ask permission before recording or sharing. Leave uncertain answers marked unknown.

## Choose the next small batch

1. Identify items only one living relative can explain.

2. Find unique recordings, letters and photographs with no known copy.

3. Note fragile items; seek specialist advice before moving or flattening them.

4. Keep the original order and record envelope or album labels.

5. Capture the back of each photograph and its surrounding album context.

6. Give each original and its copies a stable matching ID.

7. Check focus, legibility and completeness before putting originals away.

8. Keep an unchanged master and a separate working copy.

9. Record who, what, when, where and how you know; mark unknowns.

10. Make a backup in a separate location and open a sample file from it.

Source: Library of Congress: digitizing library materials
https://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/scan.html

Created by Pinkas
Keep your completed worksheet in a private location.