What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders? Digitisation is rarely a good use of resources, and almost never the cost-effective option.

And people have NO IDEA how time-consuming and expensive it is. Especially if you ever want to find the stuff again.

Why is it done then?

My rule of thumb is that digitization is worth considering for the thing that is low volume/high interest, not the thing that is high volume/low interest.

I liked this so hard I degraded a digital copy. 😉 Seriously, I would bet good money that, all things being equal, the original paper document will outlast its digital copy - and vice versa, a paper printout will outlast the born-digital original.

Digitization makes sense for preservation. I’m working on a collection of 26,000 negatives that have vinegar syndrome. Scanning is the best cheapest solution. Not simple because expertise is needed. Not final because digital files can be fragile.

Yes! It is always the first thing people ask about the library and they are always surprised and often nearly offended when I tell them this.