Case study · Department of Information
Preserving Malta’s historical record — and making it searchable.
The Department of Information holds the Government Gazette, Malta’s official record of government proceedings and proclamations. We turned one million book-format documents into indexed, searchable digital information, while preserving the originals.
Completed
- Client
- Department of Information, Government of Malta
- Sector
- Government · Historical archives
- Scale
- 1 million book-format documents
- Project
- March – October 2024
The situation
A national record, held only on paper.
The Department of Information holds a complete collection of the Government Gazette dating back to the 1800s — Malta’s official historical record of government proceedings and proclamations.
The collection was preserved in bound volumes, where it faced natural deterioration and limited accessibility. The Department began a modernisation programme to digitise the books and publish them on its platforms, so that students and researchers could consult the record online.
The problem
Invaluable — and difficult to use.
The archive presented three challenges:
Fragile originals
Historic paper and bindings deteriorate naturally, and the record existed only in these volumes.
Space and environment
Keeping the collection for the long term brought space and environmental constraints.
Physical-only access
Because the record existed only on paper, making it available to the public was difficult.
The scale
Two centuries of record, in book form.
- book-format documents
- 1 million
- where the collection begins
- 1800s
- TIFF master capture
- 400–600 dpi
- OCR in English, Maltese and Italian
- 3 languages
What we were asked to do
Convert the record into indexed, searchable digital assets.
The objective was to convert the physical gazettes into indexed, searchable digital assets, integrated with the Department’s document management system and repository, and accessible to the public, researchers and academics.
The originals were to be preserved: the books were returned to the Department, with no shredding. Redesigning the Department’s core systems was out of scope — the task was the information itself.
Our approach
Careful with the books. Precise with the information.
Prepare
Evaluate and catalogue
Archive volumes were physically evaluated and catalogued before capture.
Controlled handling
Environmental controls were set up for handling the originals. Onsite scanning was not possible, so the volumes were transported securely.
Capture
Non-contact book scanning
Trained operators used non-contact planetary book scanners under controlled conditions, capturing TIFF masters at 400–600 dpi.
Image enhancement
Images were enhanced, de-skewed and lighting-corrected, with JPEG and PDF/A access copies created from the masters.
Read and index
Text in three languages
Full-text OCR, optimised for English, Maltese and Italian, made the content searchable.
A metadata schema
Records were indexed by date, issue number, content type, department and subject. Discrepancies were corrected before upload.
Validate and deliver
Validation
Image quality, completeness and OCR accuracy were validated, and metadata integrity and indexing accuracy tested.
Integration
Outputs in preservation and web-ready formats were transferred securely by SFTP and integrated with the Department’s repository, followed by client validation and sign-off.
The transformation
From bound volumes to a searchable record.
Physical
- Bound volumes
- Government Gazettes in book format, from the 1800s.
Digital
- Master images
- Non-contact capture at 400–600 dpi, enhanced and corrected.
Searchable
- Full text
- OCR in English, Maltese and Italian.
Indexed
- Indexed records
- Date, issue number, content type, department and subject.
Useful
- In the repository
- Integrated with the Department’s repository and accessible through its document management system.
The result
A preserved record, now indexed and accessible.
Documented outcomes
- All records digitised and indexed
- Repository accessible through the document management system
- Audit trail completed
- Physical storage requirements drastically reduced
Project proof
The evidence behind the project.
Timeline
March to October 2024
Delivery
Secure transport to Archives International — onsite scanning was not possible
Capture
Non-contact planetary book scanners, 400–600 dpi TIFF masters, trained operators under controlled conditions
Originals
Returned to the Department — no shredding, to preserve the books
Quality
Validation of image quality, completeness, OCR accuracy, metadata integrity and indexing. Target: at least 99% scanning and indexing accuracy
Security
Role-based access control, encryption in transit and at rest, and maintained audit logs.
Resilience
Redundant backup: on-site and cloud-based mirroring
Team
Project manager, scanning team and German engineers
Beyond the scan
Preservation was only the beginning.
The objective was never a set of image files. It was a record people could find their way through: every gazette became text that can be searched in three languages, and a record indexed by date, issue, department and subject.
That is what the Department’s programme is for: making the collection available online to the public, students, researchers and academics, while the originals are handled less.
What could your information become?
Start with a specification or with a problem. Either way, the conversation starts with your information.