Sourcerer Introductions 🔮
📋Introduction: Sourcerers
General Sourcerer background information before we jump into the details.
What does a Sourcerer do?
A Sourcerer completes a job requested by a Researcher. So, the Sourcerer is the user creating scans and accepting payment whereas the Researcher is the user requesting scans and submitting payment.
Duties & responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities of being a Sourcerer are as follows:
As a Sourcerer, it is your duty to provide:
- All scanned materials collated into a PDF per folder or bound volume that reflect the order of the materials
- For archival collections housed in boxes and folders, scan:
- The box with a view of the interior folders
- The folder title
- The end of the folder
- For volumes and manuscripts, scan:
- The front and back covers
- The spine
- All title/introductory pages unless directed otherwise by the Researcher
- For microform, scan:
- The box the film comes in, with the title of the reel
- For photographs, scan:
- The front and back, especially if the back contains writing or other information
- For all materials, scan:
- The call slip, if one is provided to you
- The entire contents of each page
- Rotated or zoomed-in scans for anything in shadows
- We’ll go into further detail about each of these items later.
Required skills
Here are the skills you’ll need to be a successful Sourcerer:
- Knowledge and understanding of proper archival etiquette;
- Knowledge of proper techniques for handling and scanning archival material, particularly fragile materials;
- Access to a cell phone, tablet, or other device(s) capable of taking acceptable reference quality scans, accessing the internet, and otherwise able to fully complete jobs and communicate with Researchers and Sourcery administrators in the Sourcery app;
- Ability to provide reference-quality scans that are legible, clear, straight, well lit, and complete;
- Ability to return the scans in collated PDF(s) that reflect the order of materials and clearly distinguish between separate folders, boxes, or containers to facilitate proper citation.
Who can be a Sourcerer?
Sourcerers typically have learned the required skills while pursuing graduate studies and are most often:
- Early career archives & library professionals
- Library school students
- PhD candidates
- MA/MS students
- Other archives/library enthusiasts!
Getting Paid
The most important part!
Sourcery jobs pay different amounts, depending on the size of the job. The payout reflects two aspects of the job: retrieving the materials, and scanning the materials.
The base pay covers your efforts to retrieve the materials. Researchers pay a standard retrieval fee when they submit their request. It provides the absolute minimum payment in case the materials the Researcher requested are missing or otherwise unavailable for scanning. This base pay covers all work done prior to creating the scans themselves, including but not limited to:
- Double-checking the Researcher’s request is accurate by comparing their entries to the provided finding aid;
- Creating a research account with the repository;
- Requesting the material via email, a portal, or call slip;
- Scheduling an appointment for the reading room;
- Discussing the request with an archivist or librarian;
- Paging wait times.
The per scan pay of $0.27 per scan covers the time to create and return the scans. The Researcher authorizes the maximum number of scans they will pay for, which influences the maximum payout for the job. Once you are in the reading room you may realize that scanning an entire folder creates only 20 scans, not the 200 the Researcher authorized. That is not a problem – it is uncommon to know how many items are in a folder or the exact number of pages in a rare book. In this case, you would receive payment for the 20 scans returned.
After you have submitted scans, a Sourcery administrator will confirm the materials and manually trigger your payout approximately 72 hours after job completion. Once payment has been triggered, you should receive it in your bank account within 14 business days. Your payout will include the base retrieval pay plus the per scan pay.
If you need to pay an access fee to view materials, pay the fee and inform Sourcery admins. Try and get a receipt if possible.The charge will go to the Researcher, who will reimburse you via the job payment for any access fees paid by you. Note that this only applies to fees for accessing the materials themselves and does not apply to parking fees or other fees paid to get to the institution itself.
