29-255-3 Me. Code R. § 7
The integrity of the original records authorized for imaging shall be maintained by ensuring that the images are adequate substitutes for the original records and serve the purposes for which such records are created or maintained. The following measures and any others found necessary shall be observed in any State imaging project to insure preservation of the integrity of the records:
All documents will be appropriately prepared (through the removal of paper clips and staples, flattening, mending, etc.) prior to imaging, either by the state agency or by a qualified third-party. Any page with an attached note on its must have the attached note removed from the page prior to imaging and placed on a clean, blank page and digitized separately, unless the attached notes have been designated as non-records, in which case these may be discarded.
Obsolete records and non-records may be removed from files during document preparation. Staff of the state agency will conduct this work, unless the instructions for identifying obsolete records are completely objective and the ability of a third party to follow these instructions can be verified by staff prior to imaging. If the percentage of obsolete records or non-records is low, the effort of weeding will likely not be worth the cost.
Multi-part forms and continuous-feed computer paper must be separated into single pages. If there are multi-part forms included within the file, then the parts must be separated. In cases where such forms repeat the information on each page, only the highest quality page will be digitized (such as the top or white copy of the form). Other pages of such multi-part forms will not be digitized.
Fagile items or items that are torn, otherwise damaged, or on delicate backing (such as onionskin paper or glass) must be handled with care to avoid further damage or even destruction. If these items are interspersed within a body of records, they must be separated from the other items within a folder that marks them as fragile, and the entity conducting the imaging must be provided with instructions on how to handle these documents carefully. If entire boxes of records are fragile, these boxes must be marked as fragile.
Before imaging documents, the state agency or alternatively the vendor chosen to conduct the imaging, will produce an inventory of the documents that records the type of documents (paper,volumes, photographic paper prints, diapositive slides, glass plate negatives, drawings, etc), general characteristics (size, paper color, number of pages, the presence or absence of staples or other fasteners, etc.), and general document quality (undamaged documents, torn documents, onionskin paper, blurry images, or other damage) for the set of records as a whole. This inventory will allow for an assessment of the difficulty of imaging the documents.
Test images of the digital documents intended to be digitized must be created prior to wholesale conversion to ensure quality images can be produced. The number of test images produced will be governed by variations in the source documents. If the records vary widely by age, type , color, or condition, or if they have been produced at various times by various entities in the case of microfilm, test digital images must be made of samples of each set of similar documents.
29-255 C.M.R. ch. 3, § 7