Conservators check materials selected for digitization, enter information on their condition in a database, and stabilization of materials before scanning is part of the workflow. Some materials are re-housed in the process, and conservators are also responsible for training the staff handling the materials during scanning. As this example shows, in any digitization project, conservators can offer valuable advice on equipment and handling. And it is often possible to include some conservation work at relatively low cost. After all, if one gets the stuff from the shelves anyway and takes it out of folders or boxes, this is the right moment to attend to basic conservation work and repackaging.
Conservators know about ethics, about authenticity, what constitutes an object.
Those involved in digitization often have not given much thought to these matters. They want to create images that look attractive, and they will resort to image enhancement, to increasing contrast, to adapting colors, even to 'correcting' the image. They may be tempted to 'correct' certain characteristics out of an image that for an expert are essential qualities of the photograph. Some image enhancement is usually necessary, for you cannot just put something under a scanner and let it do the work. A computer screen presents something that is inherently different from a photograph, and to create an acceptable image, one will always have to adapt the crude image produced by a stupid scanner.