Table of Contents

• Feature Articles
  • The Cornell Digital to Microfilm Conversion Project: Final Report to NEH by Anne R. Kenney
  • Film Scanning of Newspaper Collections: International Initiatives by Alan Howell
• Technical Review
• Highlighted Web Sites
• Calendar of Events
• Announcements
• FAQs
• RLG News
• Hotlinks Included in This Issue
   

  

  Feature Articles

  The Cornell Digital to Microfilm Conversion Project: Final Report to NEH

  Anne R. Kenney, Associate Director, Department of Preservation and Conservation, Cornell University Library
  ark3@cornell.edu

  Cornell University Department of Preservation and Conservation has submitted its final report to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) on a two and a half year demonstration project to test and evaluate the use of high resolution bitonal imaging to produce computer output microfilm (COM) that meets national preservation standards for quality and permanence (1). In the course of the project, 1270 volumes and accompanying targets (representing 450,000 images) were scanned and recorded onto 177 reels of film. The volumes selected for the project represented core holdings in 19th and 20th century agricultural history. All paper scanning was conducted in-house, and Cornell contracted the COM production to Image Graphics, Inc. of Shelton, Connecticut. Project staff were assisted by a Technical Advisory Committee of outside experts, including Paul Conway (Yale), Nancy Elkington (RLG), Michael Lesk (Bellcore), Don Williams (Eastman Kodak), and Don Willis (Connectex). The project led to an assessment of quality, process, and costs, and to the development of recommendations for the creation and inspection of preservation microfilm produced from digital imagery.

  The Cornell COM project was designed to be complementary in scope to Yale's Project Open Book, the production phase of which was also supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Project Open Book was a comprehensive feasibility study on the means, costs, and benefits of digitally converting microfilmed brittle books. The results of that project are summarized in Paul Conway's final project report to NEH (2).

  The Cornell and Yale projects had in common the following objectives:

  • Relying on high quality microfilm as the preservation master
  • Creating approximately the same number of high resolution (600 dpi, bitonal) digital images from similar collections of 19th and 20th century brittle books
  • Developing in-house scanning capabilities
  • Using the same basic technology for indexing and file management
  • Collecting and sharing data in a manner that invited comparative analysis

   

  Summary Findings of the Cornell Digital to Microfilm Project

   The following findings and recommendations have been reached as a result of this study:

  Quality

  • Computer Output Microfilm (COM) created from 600 dpi 1-bit images scanned from brittle books can meet or exceed ANSI/AIIM microfilm standards for image quality and permanence.
  • No detectable loss of resolution was observed in recording the digital images onto COM.
  • The quality of digital images created at the same resolution and bit depth will be superior when brittle books are scanned directly from paper rather than from microfilm copies.
  • COM can be scanned to re-produce high quality digital images in the event that the original digital files become unreadable.

  RECOMMENDATION: Standards for COM production and inspection must be developed and adhered to by institutions and service bureaus alike. The Technical Advisory Committee to the project recommends that quality standards for digital imaging of paper source documents be developed and that modifications be made to the standard microfilm quality control practices for evaluating density, resolution, reduction ratios, targets, film size, and bibliographic completeness of COM.

  Cost

  • In a hybrid program to create both microfilm and digital images, the costs associated with the scan first approach appear to be less than those incurred in the film first approach. If extant film is scanned, as was the case in Project Open Book, then the costs favor the film first approach. If only digital images are to be produced, the costs of scanning from paper versus film are comparable. However, the cost figures produced by both Cornell and Yale reflect the nature of demonstration projects rather than full production processes.
  • Creating in-house scanning services may not be as cost-effective as outsourcing the work, provided clear guidelines are developed to ensure compliance with quality (and pricing) requirements suitable to library and archival applications.

  RECOMMENDATION: The findings from the Cornell COM project represent a financial benchmark against which to measure costs associated with developing and maintaining a digital archiving program. 

  Process

  • The film first and scan first approaches are both viable solutions in a hybrid program. The decision to go with one approach over the other will depend on a range of variables associated with the attributes of the originals, institutional capabilities, and the availability of appropriate imaging products and services.
  • The Cornell/Yale projects evaluated the use of high resolution bitonal scanning to produce digital versions of brittle books. Further investigation into the quality, processes, and costs associated with grayscale and color scanning should be conducted.
  • Cornell adopted a "reasonableness" standard for determining the copyright status of twentieth century brittle books to be included in a hybrid approach.

  RECOMMENDATION: Cornell and Yale recommend that the National Endowment for the Humanities support a high level conference to assess the findings of their projects; to make recommendations for best practices in the creation and use of conventional microfilm and COM in a hybrid approach; to consult with vendors of imaging services and products in adopting these practices to identify areas needing additional research and development; and to evaluate the role of the hybrid approach in broader digital preservation efforts. The proceedings of this conference should be published and made widely accessible in print and via the Internet.

  It may seem ironic that microfilm, which has become the principal means for preserving information endangered by the "slow fires" of acidic paper, could become an important legacy measure for coping with the "fast fires" of digital obsolescence. The Cornell and Yale projects benefit the preservation community at large as it seeks to understand the circumstances under which scanning first or filming first are most appropriate in achieving the twin goals of preservation and enhanced access through the hybrid use of microfilm and digital technology. 

  The full text of Cornell's final report on the Digital to Microfilm Conversion Project is available at the Web site of Cornell's Preservation and Conservation Department.

   

  Footnotes:

  1. Elkington, op. cit., and ANSI/AIIM MS23-1991, Practice for Operational Procedures/Inspection and Quality Control of First-generation, Silver Microfilm and Documents, Association for Information and Image Management. (Return to article)

  2. Paul Conway, Conversion of Microfilm to Digital Imagery: A Demonstration Project. Performance Report on the Production Conversion Phase of Project Open Book, Yale University Library, August 1996. See also, Paul Conway, "Yale University Library's Project Open Book: Preliminary Research Findings," D-Lib Magazine, February 1996 (http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february96/yale/02conway.html) (Return to article)

   

  ---

  Film Scanning of Newspaper Collections: International Initiatives

  Alan Howell, Manager, Preservation Branch at the State Library of New South Wales

  ahowell@ilanet.slnsw.gov.au

  Introduction

  This paper describes the background to, and progress of, three newspaper film scanning projects exploring the potential of scanning as a preservation reformatting option for newspapers. The theoretical concepts and practical aspects of scanning are drawn from Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives by Anne R. Kenney and Steven Chapman (1996) and The Digitization of Primary Textual Sources by Peter Robinson (1993). Some of these concepts are also illustrated online in Introduction to Imaging : Issues in Constructing an Image Database by Howard Besser and Jennifer Trant.

  Although all library materials deteriorate with age and use, newspapers are especially vulnerable due to their inherent chemical instability. They may be reduced to fragments in a few decades. The most effective means to preserve the intellectual contents of newspapers is preservation microfilming. Ideally, reformatting should be undertaken when newspapers are acquired. It must be done before they become too brittle to handle - somewhere between 25 and 100 years depending on their initial strength, use, and the environment in which they are stored. If preservation reformatting is on 35 mm polyester-based silver-halide microfilm, and the film is processed to recognized international standards for chemical stability, housed in inert containers, and then stored under controlled environmental conditions, the microfilm is expected to last several hundred years. The microfilm can serve as a preservation master which can be scanned to provide access copies in digital image form.

  Newspapers lend themselves to preservation microfilming and ultimately to film scanning for a number of reasons:

  • There is usually a high contrast between the image (which is almost always black type) and its background (which is usually white paper). High contrast images are best digitized using black and white (bitonal) imaging.
  • Reformatted newspapers only have to be legible to convey their meaning. This is a simple requirement compared to visually complex documents such as photographs.
  • The height of the smallest significant feature to be reproduced, such as the smallest word or letter, can be measured. This measurement may be used to calculate the scanner resolution setting that will consistently render the smallest feature legible. Tests have established that a scanner setting of 600 dpi bitonal imaging meets these requirements and includes a fifty percent over-sampling allowance to compensate for the loss of information inherent in bitonal scanning.
  • Text-based documents can be compressed in lossless (reversible) mode very efficiently.
  • Newspaper dimensions can range significantly from one title to the next, but usually within a title the paper is printed in a uniform size. Titles can be grouped by size and reformatted at the same reduction ratio. This speeds up microfilming and digitization.
  • Broadsheet newspapers are too large to fit on flat-bed scanners, and must be digitized via an intermediate, such as microfilm, or by using high resolution digital cameras.

   There are drawbacks to the reformatting of newspaper collections as well:

  • Deteriorated newspapers may require repair before they can be reformatted, slowing down the reformatting process.
  • In legacy collections, the contrast between the print and the paper is sometimes low and varies from page to page, making batching and economies of scale difficult to achieve and challenging the capture capabilities of bitonal film scanners.
  • The use of color is becoming more common, introducing new issues including color fidelity, increased file sizes, and extended transmission times across networks.
  • The increasing size and complexity of newspapers, including the use of supplements, requires complex directory and file structures to be devised, adding to the processing time.

   

  International Newspaper Film Scanning Projects

  There are a number of projects worldwide that are investigating the benefits and limitations of microfilm scanning of newspapers. These include the scanning of seventeenth and eighteenth century newspapers from the Burney Collection at the British Library, the conversion of Caribbean newspapers at the University of Florida, and the Australian Cooperative Digitization Project (ACDP).

  The Burney Collection is one of the British Library's most important microfilm collections and consists of 1,500 reels of newspapers, beginning with titles published during the English Civil War in the 1640s. The first group to be digitized were newspapers covering the French Revolution, one of the most frequently consulted parts of the collection. To date the project has created nearly 18 gigabytes of digital image data, covering newspapers from the years 1789 to 1793. Because of the nature of the material selected, the scanning process has to be carried out on an interactive basis, with the operator checking each frame after scanning, which increases the time taken to complete each film.

  The University of Florida Caribbean Newspaper Imaging Project began with the digitization of approximately 265,000 pages from two microfilmed newspapers, Haiti's Le Nouvelliste and Cuba's Diario de La Marina. Indexes and abstracts to the titles are being prepared in English, French, and Spanish. Scanning procedures were adapted from those established by Yale University's Project Open Book to meet University of Florida hardware requirements. This pilot project represents a joint effort between the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

  The Australian Cooperative Digitization Project is a collaborative project between the University of Sydney Library, the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW), the National Library of Australia (NLA) and Monash University Library, supported by ten other institutional and industry groups. The project has been funded by an Australian Research Council 1996 Infrastructure Grant through the Department of Employment, Education and Training. During the test phase, five journal titles (1840-45) were digitized - three microfilmed and scanned from the originals, and two scanned from existing microfilm stock. The processes were successfully evaluated and tested, the production technical specifications were finalized, and a test site developed through which user feedback and advice will also be solicited. Technical specifications will soon be accessible through the Project Web site . There is a Web site for the prototype ACDP for digitized film.

  The three projects have the following characteristics in common:

  • Good quality digital images are being obtained from new and existing microfilm, including film of poor quality.
  • Many of the original materials were not filmed to current preservation microfilming standards, and each of the projects has had to consider the use of enhancement features for de-skewing, de-speckling, and removing the black borders around the edge of the text. In the ACDP, it is estimated that about 15-20% of the digital images in the project can be produced from existing microfilm. New microfilm will be created for the remaining titles, according to procedures designed to enhance film conversion to digital format.
  • All three institutions use 400 dpi bitonal scanning. Initially, the University of Florida employed grayscale scanning to increase the legibility of poor quality microfilms, but the decision was later made to scan in bitonal mode due to the resulting file sizes. Even in bitonal mode, the average image file size is 750 Kb to 1 Mb each.
  • All images are created in TIFF image file format and compressed with ITU Group 4 compression.
  • Directory and file structures are designed to reflect the collation of the original materials and can be 'parsed' (analyzed) to retrieve a particular page or document structure element, such as a table of contents.
  • Each project stresses the need for thorough documentation, specifications, and 100% quality control.
  • The three projects share information they gain in these efforts via the establishment of project Web sites.

  Some aspects where the projects have adopted different approaches include:

  • Each institution is utilizing a different scanning system. The British Library is using the Mekel 400 XL microfilm scanner; Florida is using the Minolta MS 3000; and ACDP tested the technically similar ScreenScan(tm) system that projects a microfilmed image onto a ground glass screen before it is digitized. For the production phase, ACDP will use a Sunrise SRI-50.
  • Florida and the British Library are digitizing in-house, whereas the ACDP is outsourcing to a local service bureau.
  • The British Library and ACDP will use the Web to provide access to the full-text sources. The University of Florida is providing Web access to indexes and abstracts as well as ordering information (in three languages), with CD ROM delivery of the digital image files.

   

  Is digitizing a preservation option for newspapers?

  The size of most newspapers and the level of detail present in them means that they are difficult to digitize at the 600 dpi bitonal specification that is known to capture all significant information contained in printed text and line art. Yale University's Project Open Book is the only known film scanning project to achieve 600 dpi through a modification to the Mekel equipment and software. However, improvements in pixel arrays in microfilm scanners and digital cameras, and emerging image enhancement software may address this issue before long. An alternative approach is to scan at 400 dpi resolution but in grayscale mode. As the Florida project discovered, filmed newspapers can be successfully digitized via this approach if large file sizes and additional conversion costs are accepted.

   Digitizing newspapers is currently at the cutting edge of digital imaging technology. This does not mean that it cannot be done, but that compromises must be accepted. The preservation challenge is to manage this hybrid information era by:

  • holding onto the gains made in the preservation of paper-based information;
  • recognizing microfilming is an important - perhaps the most important - preservation reformatting strategy. There may be a renewed interest in the film-first option as optics continue to improve and standards adapted to support microfilming with digitizing in mind are established;
  • developing policies, procedures, and techniques to establish preservation digitizing as an accepted preservation reformatting strategy; and
  • ensuring that digital information remains useable for as long as it is required.

   

  Note: An expanded version of this article will appear as "Preservation Digitizing of Newspapers," in International Preservation News, No. 16, December 1997. For further information, contact Marie-Therese Varlamoff at mtv@bnf.fr.

   

  

  Technical Review

  Outsourcing Film Scanning and Computer Output Microfilm (COM) Recording

  This issue of RLG DigiNews features information on hybrid approaches involving both microfilming and digital imaging, so we decided to devote this column to a survey of service providers who offer conversion between microfilm and digital image files, either as COM recording or microfilm scanning.

  In the fall of 1995, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) distributed a questionnaire to its 119 member libraries, inquiring about the extent of digital imaging for preservation purposes. ARL published the results of this survey as SPEC Kit 214, Digitizing Technologies for Preservation (March 1996). Of the 78 responding institutions, 29 (37%) reported undertaking digital projects for preservation. Most of the scanning efforts focused on conversion of paper-based sources, but 4 of the 29 institutions (14%) chose to scan microforms, and one reported COM recording of digital images. Two of those five relied on service bureaus to do the work.

  Because the equipment (manufacturers include Anacomp, Image Graphics, Mekel, Micrographic Technology Corporation (1), Minolta, Photomatrix and SunRise Imaging) used for production microfilm scanning or COM recording can be expensive, we anticipate there will be an increasing demand for outsourcing services by cultural institutions interested in pursuing a hybrid approach. Earlier this year, the Library of Congress issued a Request for Proposals for microfilm scanning (RFP96-5) for the National Digital Library Program. To date, LC has received over 80 inquiries from companies interested in bidding for the work. (clarification note added on 8/25/97: The RFP was issued in February 1996, and the contract was awarded in August 1996.)

  In preparing this column, we gathered information on a number of imaging service bureaus that offer microfilm scanning and/or COM services to the research library community. In addition to the ones we already knew about, we located microfilm scanning vendors by searching in Infoseek (Internet search engine) for "+microfilm+scanner." We identifed COM service providers by searching the AIIM Buying Guide (one of the featured Web sites for this issue) under products:services:COM. We also checked through the 1997 annual AIIM show and conference program for additional names. Last month we sent out 15 surveys to the more promising leads, and, with a little prodding, received 11 responses. The following table summarizes our findings:

   

Microfilm Scanning
Service Provider	Technical Specifications
CEScan, Inc. (2) 15256 N.W.Greenbrier Pkwy Beaverton, OR 97006 (503) 690-6600; (888) 690-2900 Contact: James A. Bodi JB@cescan.com http://www.cescan.com/	Hardware: Sunrise Imaging SRI50 Reduction Ratios: 8x-48x Pixel Dimension: 7500 linear pixel array Conversion: from 16mm, 35mm, 105mm fiche & aperture cards Output: * Bit Depth: bitonal * Formats: TIFF, JPEG (JFIF), GIF * Compression: Group 4, LZW, JPEG * Media: 4mmDAT, CD, Zip, Optical
Lason Systems, Inc. 1305 Stephenson Hwy. Troy, Michigan 48083 (810) 597-5800 Contact: Harvey Gross hgross@lason.com http://www.lason.com/	Hardware: Mekel & Sunrise Reduction Ratios: 24x-48x Resolution: 600 dpi at a 48x reduction ratio Conversion: from 16mm, 35mm, 105mm fiche & aperture cards Output: * Bit Depth: bitonal & grayscale * Media: CD-ROM, DLT, DAT
microMEDIA Imaging Systems 1979 Marcus Avenue Lake Success, NY 11042 (516) 355-0300 ext. 132 Contact: Rosalie Wise info@imagingservices.com http://www.imagingservices.com/	Hardware: Mekel & Photomatrix Reduction Ratios: 12x-72x Pixel Dimension: 7500 linear pixel array Conversion: from 16mm, 35mm, 105mm fiche & aperture cards Output: * Bit Depth: bitonal, grayscale & color * Formats: TIFF, JPEG (JFIF), GIF * Compression: Group 4, LZW, JPEG, JBIG * Media: Tape, Optical Disk, CD-ROM, Zip File, Internet
MicroPublishing Services Canada, Ltd. 1361 Huntingtonwood Drive Unit 8, Agin Court, Ontario Canada M1S 3J1 (416) 292-0900 Contact: Rose Kramer	Hardware: Mekel Reduction Ratios: 20x-48x Resolution: up to 400 dpi at all reduction ratios Conversion: from 16mm & aperture cards Output: * Bit Depth: Grayscale * Formats: TIFF, JPEG (JFIF), GIF * Compression: Group 4 & JPEG * Media: Tape, CD-ROM, Optical - both phase change and magneto
Northern Micrographics 2004 Kramer Street La Crosse, WI 54603 (608) 781-0850 Contact: Tom Ringdahl sales@normicro.com http://www.normicro.com/	Hardware: Mekel & Photomatrix Reduction Ratios: 10x-48x Pixel Dimension: 5500-8800 linear pixel array Conversion: from 16mm, 35mm, 105mm fiche & aperture cards Output: * Bit Depth: bitonal * Formats: TIFF, JPEG (JFIF), GIF * Compression: Group 4, LZW, JPEG, JBIG * Media: CD-R, 8mmTAR
Preservation Resources (3) 9 South Commerce Way Bethlehem, PA 18017 (610) 758-8700; (800) 773-7222 Contact: Meg A. Bellinger meg_bellinger@oclc.org	Hardware: Sunrise Imaging 7500 (Sunrise Imaging 8800 available in Sept '97) Reduction Ratios: 8x-36x Pixel Dimension: 8800 linear pixel array Conversion: from 16mm, 35mm & 105mm fiche Output: * Bit Depth: bitonal or grayscale * Formats: TIFF, JPEG (JFIF), GIF, most formats are possible * Compression: Group 4, LZW, JPEG * Media: CD-ROM, Magneto-Optical Disk (1.2 Gb and 2.6 Gb)
Zuma Corporation International Ltd (UK) (4) Chappell House The Green, Datchet Berkshire SL3 9EH UK (+44) 1753 - 592 804 (voice) Contact: John Symon, Managing Director 100747.2743@compuserve.com	Hardware: Mekel M500 & M560 Reduction Ratios: 10x-48x Resolution: 100 dpi to 400 dpi at a 24x Pixel Dimension: 6000 pixel linear array Conversion: from 16mm, 35mm, aperture cards, 105mm fiche, jumbo fiche & combination 16/35mm fiche Output: * Bit Depth: 4-bit to 8-bit grayscale * Formats: TIFF, JPEG (JFIF), GIF * Compression: Group 4, JPEG * Media: Tape 4mm/8mm, CD-ROM, optical disk
Zuma Corporation (US) (5) 5601 W. Slauson Ave. #160 Culver City, CA 90230 (310) 670-1498 Contact: Wayne Brent, President zuma@worldnet.att.net	Hardware: Mekel Reduction Ratios: 9x-72x Resolution: 200 dpi to 400 dpi at various reduction ratios Conversion: from 16mm, 35mm, 105mm fiche & aperture cards Output: * Bit Depth: bitonal & grayscale * Formats: TIFF, JPEG (JFIF), GIF * Compression: Group 4 * Media: 4mm, 8mm, 9 track, 18 track tapes and CD-ROM discs

Computer Output Microfilm (COM)
Service Provider	Technical Specifications
Anacomp 12365 Crosthwaite Circle Poway, CA 92064 (619) 679-9797 Contact: Kelley Gerwig kgerwig@anacomp.com http://www.anacomp.com/	Hardware: Anacomp XPF 2000 Can Create Microfilm From: * Group 4 TIFF image files (bitonal) Maximum Output Level on Film: 300 dpi output at 48x Film Formats: 16mm & 105mm fiche Film Reduction Ratios: 48x @ 300 dpi; 24x, 42x, 48x & 72x @ 120 dpi
Image Graphics, Inc. (6) 917 Bridgeport Ave. Shelton, CT 06484 (203) 926-0100 Contact: Mike Beno Mbeno@igraph.com http://www.igraph.com/	Hardware: EBR Micrographics 3000 (Image Graphics) Can Create Microfilm From: * Group 4 TIFF image files (bitonal) * uncompressed grayscale and color TIFF image files * JPEG compressed grayscale image files * PDF and Postscript files Maximum Output Level on Film: 6,350 lines per inch Image Files Supported: * 300 dpi & 600 dpi 1-bit image files * 300 dpi, 400 dpi & 600 dpi 8-bit image files Film Formats: 16mm, 35mm, 105mm fiche, 70mm film and 5 inch film Film Reduction Ratios: variable 1-60x, or any fixed reduction ratio within that range
Lason Systems, Inc. 1305 Stephenson Hwy. Troy Michigan 48083 (810) 597-5800 Contact: Harvey Gross hgross@lason.com http://www.lason.com/	Hardware: MTC Can Create Microfilm From: * Group 4 compressed TIFF image files (bitonal) * Uncompressed grayscale TIFF image files * Windows Metafile * BMP image files Maximum Output Level on Film: 240 dpi at a reduction ratio of 42x Image Files Supported: * 300 dpi 1-bit image files * 300 dpi 8-bit image files Film Format: 105mm fiche Film Reduction Ratios: 42x, 48x
Output Technologies 2534 Madison Avenue Kansas City, MO 64108 (816) 435-3026 Contact: Lynn Hindley hindleyl@output.net	Hardware: MTC Maximum Output Level on Film: 300 dpi output at a reduction ration of 48x Film Formats: 16mm & 105mm fiche Film Reduction Ratios: 24x, 38x, 42x & 48x

 Notes:

(1) Micrographic Technology Corporation (MTC), 520 Logue Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043, (415) 965-3700 (Return to Text)

(2) CEScan's previous projects include UCLA Department of Sociology and over 20 city and county offices, engineering records, surveyor records. (Return to Table)

(3) Preservation Resources' previous related projects include Library of Congress - National Digital Libraries Project, Association of Research Libraries - Argentinean and Mexican Presidential Messages, New York Public Library - Studies in Scarlet, Various libraries - OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, Electronic Archive Project, Columbia University - Ling Lung, Chinese language serial. (Return to Table)

(4) Zuma Corporation International Ltd's (UK) previous related projects include, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Routledge Publishing,British Library. (Return to Table)

(5) Zuma's (US) previous projects include Chemical Abstracts Columbus, Ohio. (Return to Table)

(6) Image Graphics' previous projects include Cornell University Library Department of Preservation and Conservation and work on the Walt Whitman Collection for the Library of Congress. (Return to Table)

 

Highlighted Web Sites

AIIM Buying Guide: The Document Management Sourcebook
The AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) Buying Guide is an online source to locate document management companies, products, and services. The system can be searched by company (company name, region, or category such as "manufacturer") or by product/service name (such as "hardware" or "networking"). As of July 1997, the site listed 857 document management companies (both U.S. and international). The information provided includes company addresses, phone/fax numbers, company mission statements, lists of products/services offered, press releases, and occasionally hot links to company Web sites.

eLib: Electronic Libraries Programme
The main goal of the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) is to "provide a body of tangible, electronic resources and services for UK Higher Education, and to affect a cultural shift towards the acceptance and use of said resources and services in place of more traditional information storage and access methods." The program supports around 60 projects in areas such as access to network resources, digitization, electronic document delivery, electronic journals, images, on-demand publishing, quality assurance, and training and awareness. The eLib Web site provides information on the program, and lists and describes its projects, many of which are developed in collaboration with other complementary international digital library initiatives. For example, the Joint Electronic Document Delivery Software (JEDDS) project is an international cooperative initiative of four organizations: Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, Joint Information Systems Committee (UK), National Library of Australia, and National Library of New Zealand.

UPF Home
This site disseminates information about the proposed Universal Preservation Format (UPF) for the archiving of multimedia. It is developed and maintained by the WGBH Educational Foundation, affiliated with the Boston-based broadcasting station, to advocate for a platform-independent media format to ensure the long-term accessibility of a wide range of digital data, especially video formats. This site is made possible in part by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the National Archives (NHPRC). In addition to discussing the underlying technological concepts behind UPF, this site also provides information on other projects and initiatives concerned with digital preservation standards.

 



Calendar of Events

First European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology in Digital Libraries
September 1-3, 1997
The objectives of this conference are to bring together researchers from multiple disciplines whose work relates to the development of digital libraries; to provide an opportunity for scientists to form a research community in Europe specific to digital library development and to enable them to discuss issues and strategies specific to the European context; to enable review and discussion of research under way in Europe, the US, Japan and other countries on digital libraries; to stimulate researchers, especially young scientists, to explore new areas of interest in digital library development; to establish a forum for discussion of issues specific to Europe such as interoperability, multilinguality and intellectual property policy and information commerce; to provide an opportunity for researchers in the relevant enabling technologies and information sciences to discuss issues related to interoperability between world-wide distributed digital libraries. The Conference will be held at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Pisa, Italy.

The Northeast Document Conservation Center Workshops
September 9-11, 1997 and November 3-5, 1997
NEDCC announced their Fall'97 workshop series including "Reformatting for Preservation in a Digital World: To Scan or To Film" and "School for Scanning."

Second IEEE Metadata Conference
September 16-17, 1997
The objectives of this conference are to provide a forum to address metadata issues faced by the various communities including mass storage, data management, image and multimedia processing, and distributed computing, as well as management of networked heterogeneous information servers. The conference brings the different communities together for technical interchange of ideas on common technologies and standards related to metadata; presents various perspectives from the users as well as from the producers of metadata, and facilitates the development and usage of metadata. Participants are invited from academia, government, and industry to share ideas and experiences.

ASIS 1997 Annual Meeting
November 2-6, 1997
The ASIS 1997 annual meeting, Digital Collection: Implications for Users, Funders, Developers and Maintainers, will deal broadly with the emerging phenomenon of collections of digital objects - text, image, sound, and multimedia - accumulated in central as well as distributed repositories or virtual collections.

International Symposium on Research, Development & Practice in Digital Libraries: ISDL '97
November 18-21, 1997

The University of Library and Information Science Tsukuba Science City, Japan is sponsoring this symposium which will provide an international forum for papers and discussions by researchers, developers, and practitioners working in the field of Digital Libraries.

 



Announcements

Six Film Digitizing Initiatives

(1) Canadian Digital Library Project
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (CIHM) a grant of $500,000 (US) for a digital project that will make early works of Canadian literature, native studies and women's history accessible on the Internet. "Early Canadiana Online: A Project to Provide Enhanced Access to Canada's Published Heritage" will be undertaken by CIHM, the National Library of Canada, the Université Laval Library and the University of Toronto Library, which will all provide financial support. Additional sponsorship will be sought from Canadian foundations, agencies, and corporations. The project will begin on September 1, 1997 and will last for approximately two years. The project's objectives are to: digitize 5000 works from CIHM's major microfiche collection of Canadian works and make them accessible on the Internet; develop a model for comparing the costs of storing and accessing works in both traditional media and digital format; and evaluate the use and acceptability of various digital versions in comparison to the printed and microform versions of texts. A bilingual Web site has been estaliblished to provide a detailed description of the project, contact information, and periodic progress reports.

(2) Digitization as a Method of Permanent Preservation
The Niedersaechsische Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Goettingen (Germany) is establishing a Center for the Retrospective Digitization of Library Materials. Plans call for digitizing collections of research literature from the 18th and 19th century and distributing material on the Internet. A new funding program of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) has been launched, with technical requirements for participants defined in a formal report, first published in German, and soon to be made available in English, titled: Digitisation as a Method of Permanent Preservation: Final Report of a Working Group of the German Research Foundation. The report recommends a hybrid approach of microfilming and digitization, and discusses requirements for the digitization of microfilm, including color microfilm. The English translation has been prepared by the European Commission on Preservation and Access, and will be made available via the U.S. Commission on Preservation and Access by the end of this month.

(3) Film Scanning at Harvard University
Harvard University is conducting an investigation to determine whether color preservation microfilm of books can serve as a useful surrogate for library patrons as well as a successful platform for production scanning. A progress report is available online.

(4) SagaNet: Icelandic Digital Library Project
Cornell University Library and the National and University Library of Iceland are collaborating on a three-year project to create the Icelandic National Digital Library, a first of its kind international electronic repository selected from Cornell's Fiske Icelandic Collection, the National and University Library of Iceland, and Iceland's Arni Magnusson Institute. This project is made possible by grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Iceland's Ministry of Culture and Education, and the Icelandic Research Council. When completed in 2000, "SagaNet," as the project is called, will contain high-quality digital images of the full texts of Icelandic sagas, a unique genre of historical and fictional narrative that is used by an international scholarly research community working in medieval studies. Cornell will scan from microfilm approximately 750 printed books, while the National and University Library and Arni Magnusson Institute will convert about 380,000 manuscript pages.

(5) Swedish Microfilm Scanning Project
Swedish Archive Information (SVAR) is completing a pilot project to investigate the technology, means, and financial implications of converting parish church records from microfilm and microfiche to digital imagery. A final report of the project , which will include a summary provided in English, will be completed by the end of August. For information on the report's availability, contact Borje Jestrell, Director, Division of Technical Matters, National Archives of Sweden, at borje.justrell@riksarkivet.ra.se.

(6) University of Hawaii Film Scanning Project
The University of Hawaii is currently working on a pilot project scanning selected 19th century Hawaiian newspapers from microfilm. They are using a Minolta Microdax 3000 microfilm-to-digital scanner and "image optimizer" software called ScanFix. The final product will be Web-accessible images for use by Hawaiian language students and researchers. For further information contact: Martha Chantiny, Hamilton Library Systems Office, University of Hawaii at Manoa chantiny@hawaii.edu.

National Preservation Office Announces a WWW Site
The National Preservation Office Web site will be "adding to the basic information concerning the Office's activities, useful links to other organizations and institutions around the world involved with ensuring continued preservation, and accessibility of library and archival materials." The NPO is supported by The British Library, The Public Record Office, The National Library of Scotland, Trinity College Library Dublin, The Consortium of University Research Libraries, Cambridge University Library, and The Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford.

National Library of Australia, Selection Committee on Online Australian Publications
Guidelines for the selection of digital materials that will be preserved have been issued by the National Library of Australia and can be found at their Web site.

The Digital Scriptorium
The University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University have joined forces under a Mellon Foundation grant to photograph, digitize, and mount on the Web 10,000 images from their respective medieval and Renaissance manuscript holdings. The project, called the "Digital Scriptorium," will offer a visual catalogue of at least one image from each of approximately 700 codices and approximately 1500 documents. In addition, the image database initiates American participation in a long-standing European effort to publish reproductions of dated manuscripts as touchstones for the vast numbers of undated manuscripts. To this end, images of dated manuscripts will be tagged for specialized searching. Brief descriptions will accompany the images, as will transcriptions of sample passages. Although now limited to Berkeley and Columbia, the database is intended as a framework ultimately open to other institutions. A licensing arrangement is expected to provide self-sustaining revenue to the project in the long run. Directors of the project are, at Berkeley, Charles Faulhaber, and at Columbia, Jean Ashton and Consuelo Dutschke.

The Medieval Miniature Compendium
This project will produce a multimedia product focused on manuscripts, procedures of illumination used for adornment, and especially on the reserves at the National Library of Mexico. Due to the importance of their reserves in relation to Mexico, those of the library of the Hispanic Society of America, in New York will also be included. The project will collaborate with the Digital Scriptorium project, carried out by Berkeley and Columbia universities. For further information contact Diego Antona Archilla, Presidente de la Asoc. Nac. de Investigadores en Didactica, at dantona@servidor.unam.mx.


National Diet Library of Japan Electronic Library Project
The National Diet Library of Japan has digitized ten million pages and is planning to extend Internet access to them in the near future. This electronic library is being developed with the help of the Japanese Information-Technology Promotion Agency (IPA). Text pages from this project have been tagged in consideration of converting them to SGML.

Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS)
The AHDS is working collaboratively on behalf of the academic community to collect, catalogue, and preserve digital data; develop stategies for preserving the British digital cultural heritage; and to encourage the development of high-quality, scholarly digital resources.

NSSN: A National Resource for Global Standards
The NSSN is a Web-based system designed to provide users with a wide range of standards information from major standards developers, including developers accredited by the American National Standards Institute, other U.S. private sector standards organizations, government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, and international standards organizations. At its core is an integrated catalog database pointing to over 100,000 standards currently in use.

Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI) WWW Site
This Australian site, which was highlighted in the previous issue, is created by the PADI working group and gathers preservation-related information in one place to assist creators, publishers, collection managers, researchers, and all others who have an interest in ensuring long-term access to important digital information.

Digital Library News
The publication of the IEEE Computer Society Task Force on Digital Libraries has been announced. The Digital Library News will act as a periodic electronic snapshot for the Digital Libraries field. The goal is to gather notices of ongoing events and new developments. Articles will be brief (one to two paragraphs each), with pointers to URL's containing more information. Digital Library News will be published three times a year, in June, October, and February, and is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Task Force on Digital Libraries and by Advances in Digital Libraries, an annual conference now in its fourth year. To subscribe to Digital Library News, send email to ieeedln@cimic.rutgers.edu with the contents "subscribe ieeedln Your Real Name."

The Council of the Society of American Archivists Approved the Statement on the Preservation of Digitized Reproductions
This statement of principles covers the issues of preservation, selection, quality, integrity and access. The document stresses the importance of considering and carrying forward the context of a document or object when it is digitized, the importance of an object's metadata accompanying the object throughout its digital history, and of long-term care of an object through migration into future generations of digital carriers.

Second Round of Library of Congress/Ameritech Competition Announced
The program supports United States public, research, and academic libraries, museums, historical societies and archival institutions in the creation of digital collections of primary resources for distribution on the Internet. Awards of up to $75,000 will be made to individual institutions and up to $150,000 to eligible consortia for projects that can be accomplished in twelve to eighteen months. Applications must be postmarked by November 3, 1997. Detailed guidelines and application instructions are available from the Library of Congress online at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/award. For further information contact: Bonnie Magness-Gardiner at(202)707-1087 or lc_ameritech@loc.gov.

New Publication from the Commission on Preservation and Access 
The July 1997 publication of the Commission is entitled SGML as a Framework for Digital Preservation and Access. Written by James Coleman and Don Willis, the "report explores the suitability of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) as a framework for building, managing, and providing access to digital libraries, with special emphasis on preservation and access issues." The report is available for $20 and ordering information will be placed on the CPA Web site.

National Digital Library Federation (NDLF)
At a meeting of the NDLF Advisory Committee, which consists of the directors of the NDLF member libraries, it was agreed that NDLF would become an official program of the Council of Library and Information Resources (CLIR is the new organization which combines the Council on Library Resources and the Commission on Preservation and Access). Other research libraries beyond the original NDLF members, which are engaged in digital library initiatives and are prepared to pay the membership dues and to contribute to the capital pool, are now invited to join the partnership.

In addition, it was agreed at the meeting that OCLC and RLG would be invited to join NDLF as ex officio (non-voting) members. The Making of America II project, which NDLF adopted last year as one of the central projects it will use to achieve the programmatic goals defined by the NDLF Planning Task Force, continues to move forward. Under the leadership of the University of California at Berkeley, a proposal has been submitted to NEH, which is aimed at mid-level indexing through encoded archival description. Other participants, in addition to Berkeley, are Cornell, New York Public, Penn State, and Stanford. The subject content will be special collections information on railroads between 1869 and 1900.

Encoded finding aids will be maintained in a central server at Berkeley, with links from the finding aids to the cited documents on the five campuses. Issues that will be considered in this project include standards for structural metadata, interoperability, and naming. Other MoAII projects, that will focus on other prerequisites for the creation of a national digital library, are now being planned.

The Architecture Working Group of NDLF, chaired by Dale Flecker, also continues to meet regularly, and to consider the broad issues required for a fully functional, distributed digital library. The group recently met to share findings and plans with CNRI. A document is now being prepared that will summarize this group's work to date.



FAQs

Translation Please: Understanding a Kodak Photo CD Service Provider's Literature

Question:

NYU is negotiating specs with a vendor to scan 4 x 5 transparencies of a collection of 1,550 posters of varying sizes and a separate collection of 1,000 4 x 5 black and white negatives using the Kodak CD technology. Although I am not directly involved in this [access] project, I was consulted by those who are and provided with the following information contained in a letter from the vendor:

"The highest resolution is Base X 64, which in RGB color space is 72MB, which at 300 dpi goes out to 13.6 x 20.5 final print enlargement. Base x 4 is 4.5MB and at 300 dpi is 3.4 x 5.1 final print enlargement. Base is 1.13MB and at 300 dpi goes to 1.7 x 2.5 final print enlargement. Base/4 is 288 K and Base/16 is 72K."

I'm not familiar with the language being used here and would appreciate any insight you can provide so I can proceed to respond intelligently to this vendor.

Paula De Stefano
Head, Preservation Department
New York University Libraries


Answer:
First, you may want to check out Kodak's Photo CD Products and Information Web site, which provides a wide range of information, including an overview of the technology and white papers on related issues. To start decoding the vendor's specifications, let's first focus on the resolution levels provided on Photo CDs.

Images on Kodak Photo CD are stored at multiple resolutions, from thumbnail image size to printing quality. Photo CD offers 5 levels of resolutions (Base/16 - 16 Base) and Pro Photo CD provides 6 levels of resolution (Base/16 - 64 Base). It sounds like this vendor provides both Photo CD and Pro Photo CD services. Pro Photo CD has a maximum scanning array of 4096 x 6144 (pixel dimensions). This level of resolution is called 64 Base (or in your vendor's lingo: Base X 64).

At this resolution, a Pro Photo CD file will be approximately 72 megabytes uncompressed when displayed on your monitor. RGB (red, green, blue) color space is the gamut commonly used in scanning devices and monitors. The Kodak PCD imaging workstation scans and saves images in Photo YCC, a proprietary color encoding metric developed by Kodak. The digital image is stored at multiple levels of resolution in units called Image PAC files. For most 35 mm images, the size of an Image PAC File (64 Base) is approximately 21 megabytes; however, depending upon the film type used and the scene content, the size of an Image PAC File can range from 15 to 24 megabytes.

You can calculate the maximum physical dimensions for a print enlargement from the Photo CD format very easily: divide the pixel dimensions by the desired dpi output. For instance, a 300 dpi print from the Pro Photo CD file can be made at dimensions of 13.6" x 20.5" (4096 divided by 300 = 13.65; 6144 divided by 300 = 20.48). A 200 dpi print can be made up to 20.5" x 30.72".

We hope that this information will provide some help in translating the vendor's specifications.

 

Please send your questions for the FAQ section to preservation@cornell.edu .



RLG News

Managing Digital Imaging Projects: a New RLG Workshop
RLG is pleased to offer a new 2.5 day workshop designed to assist librarians, archivists, curators, and preservation administrators in managing digital imaging projects. Through lectures, demonstrations, and group exercises, participants will learn to:

• set realistic goals and objectives
• benchmark imaging and indexing requirements
• determine necessary technical infrastructure to support imaging and access (hardware, software, network, communication protocols)
• prepare budgets (including the use of the RLG Worksheet for Budgeting Digital Reformatting Projects)
• identify facilities, space, and staffing needs
• develop an RFI & RFP from models provided; select vendor(s); prepare a contract for services; and develop on-going relationships
• monitor project activities and schedule
• establish a quality control program
• collaborate with others to provide access to and maintenance of digital collections.

The curriculum was developed for RLG through a contract with Cornell University's Department of Preservation and Conservation. Taught by Anne R. Kenney, Associate Director,and Oya Y. Rieger, Digital Projects Librarian, both of the Department of Preservation and Conservation, Cornell University, the workshop will be offered five times over the next year. The first workshop is scheduled for October 27-29, 1997 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The remaining workshops are tentatively scheduled as follows: early February 1998 (Chicago, IL); two to be held in late May/early June, 1998 (UK); and the final one of the year in late Summer/early Fall, 1998 (California).

The prepaid registration fee for the workshop is $250 for RLG members and $350 for non-members. The cost includes the course workbook, continental breakfast each morning, as well as lunch on days one and two. Additionally, workshop participants may purchase a copy of Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives by Anne R. Kenney and Stephen Chapman (Cornell University Library, 1996) for the reduced rate of $50. (Though not required for the workshop, this notebook is a valuable source of information and is recommended reading for the course.) Transportation and hotel accommodations will be the responsibility of participants (email with hotel reservation information will be sent to those whose applications have been accepted).

Enrollment for each workshop is limited to 35 participants. Registration for the workshops is on a first-come, first-served basis, with RLG members having priority over non-members. Registration applications for the Washington, DC workshop will be made available on Monday, August 18, 1997 through the several RLG electronic discussion groups (PRESERV-RLG, RLGMEM-L, SHARES-ALL, PRIMARY-L) and through the RLG PRESERV Web site (www.rlg.org/preserv/). You may use the application form to express interest in any of the other regionally-held workshops (indicate the locations in which you are interested) and RLG will contact you with more information when the exact location and dates are firm.

If you have questions about the workshops or the registration process, please contact either Robin Dale at 415-691-2238, or bl.rld@rlg.org or Fran Devlin at 415-691-2239, or bl.fed@rlg.org.

 

Making Archives a Part of the International Discovery and Delivery Landscape:
The concepts of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) are being embraced by archivists around the world. Encoding archival finding aids according to a standard document type definition within SGML will make archival research tools more intelligible and navigable on the World Wide Web. These encoded finding aids can serve as the bridge between RLIN records and digital surrogates of collection materials and allow for enhanced access to archival collections.

Conceived of as an RLG project, the Finding Aid SGML Training (FAST) workshops were designed in conjunction with staff at the University of California, Berkeley to teach workshop participants how to encode finding aids to the emerging EAD standard. The training also taught participants how to link the encoded finding aids to RLIN records, as well as to any existing digitized images associated with an individual collection. Initial funding for this project came from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. The Council on Library Resources awarded an additional grant, allowing the extended training schedule, participation by a larger pool of archivists, and continued curriculum development.

In the last twelve months, twelve regional workshops were held, providing training for over 200 participants from 109 different institutions. There will be a FAST workshop held in conjunction with the Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting in August and this will be the first that we will co-sponsor with SAA. It is RLG's hope that this curriculum can then be transferred to SAA for their use in reaching a wide audience within the archival profession. RLG will continue to hold the right to offer the same workshop under RLG auspices should that need occur.

The Finding Aid initiative is broader than training though. RLG is creating an integrated access system that will put the researcher in the driver's seat. He or she will be able to search across servers with a click or two in a distributed access system (for information held on RLG's servers or locally at the home institution), across collection-level records, across finding aid texts, and from collection records through finding aids to whole information.

There will be still another byproduct of our Encoded Finding Aid initiative: a finding aid conversion service. RLG will locate and train one or more vendors so that finding aid encoding can be outsourced. Of course, with more finding aids encoded, access to archival collections becomes both broader and richer.

An EAD Advisory Group has been established to provide some guidance on RLG's own implementation issues and support for the members needs in promulgating further the implementation of this important standard. The Advisory Group includes: Rich Szary, Yale University; Belinda Urquiza, Library of Congress; Dan Linke, Princeton University; Leslie Morris, Harvard University; Steven Mandeville-Gamble, Stanford University; Richard Masters, British Library; Daniel Pitti, University of Virginia; and Anne Van Camp, RLG staff liaison. For more information about FAST workshops or the finding aid conversion service, please contact Anne Van Camp at (415) 691-2237, or bl.ahv@rlg.org.



Hotlinks Included in This Issue

Feature Articles
Australian Cooperative Digitization Project (ACDP): http://www.nla.gov.au/ferg/
Burney Collection at the British Library: http://minos.bl.uk/diglib/access/microfilm-digitisation.html
Caribbean newspapers at the University of Florida: http://www.karamelik.uflib.ufl.edu/projects/mellon
Cornell's Preservation and Conservation Department: http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/pub.htm
Introduction to Imaging : Issues in Constructing an Image Database: http://www.gii.getty.edu/intro_imaging/0-Cover.html
Prototype site of ACDP digitized film: http://www.nla.gov.au/acdp/serials.html
Yale University Library's Project Open Book: Preliminary Research Findings: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february96/yale/02conway.html

Technical Review 
Manufacturers:
* Microfilm Scanners
Mekel: http://www.mekel.com/full/welcome/index.html
Minolta: http://www.minolta.com/
Minolta/Europe: http://www.minolta.de/europe.html
Minolta/USA: http://www.minoltausa.com/
Photomatrix: http://www.photomatrix.com/
SunRise Imaging: http://www.sunriseimg.com/
* Computer Output Microfilm (COM) Recorders:
Anacomp: http://www.anacomp.com/
Image Graphics, Inc.: http://www.igraph.com/

Service Providers
* Microfilm scanning
CEScan, Inc.: http://www.cescan.com/
Lason Systems, Inc.: http://www.lason.com/
microMEDIA Imaging Systems: http://www.imagingservices.com/
Northern Micrographics: http://www.normicro.com/
* Computer Output Microfilm (COM) recording
Anacomp: http://www.anacomp.com/
Image Graphics, Inc.: http://www.igraph.com/
Lason Systems, Inc.: http://www.lason.com/

Highlighted Web Sites
AIIM Buying Guide: The Document Management Sourcebook: http://www.aiimguide.com/
eLib: Electronic Libraries Programme: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/
Joint Electronic Document Delivery Software (JEDDS): http://www.gu.edu.au/alib/iii/docdel/jointdev.htm
UPF Home: http://info.wgbh.org/upf/

Calendar of Events
ASIS 1997 Annual Meeting: http://www.asis.org/annual-97/schedule.htm
European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries:
http://www.area.pi.cnr.it/ErcimDL/dl3.html
ISDL'97: http://www.DL.ulis.ac.jp/ISDL97/
The Northeast Document Conservation Center Workshops: http://www.nedcc.org/calendar.htm
Second IEEE Metadata Conference: http://www.llnl.gov/liv_comp/metadata/md97.html

Announcements
Arts and Humanities Data Service: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/projects/ahds/
Canadian Digital Library Project: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/cihm/ecol/
Commission on Preservation and Access: http://www-cpa.stanford.edu/cpa/index.html
Digital Library News: http://cimic.rutgers.edu/~ieeedln
German Research Foundation: http://www.gwdg.de/~sub/homepage.htm
Harvard Film Scanning: http://preserve.harvard.edu/resources/digitization/colormicrofilm.html
Library of Congress/Ameritech Competition: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/award
National Diet Library: http://www.ndl.go.jp
National Library of Australia Selection Guidelines: http://www.nla.gov.au/1/scoap/scoapgui.html
National Preservation Office: http://minos.bl.uk/index.html
NSSN Standards Web Site: http://www.nssn.org
PADI WWW Site: http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/tf2001/padi/padi.html
Society of American Archivists Statement: http://www.archivists.org/governance/resolutions/digitize.html

FAQs
Photo CD Products and Information: http://www.kodak.com/daiHome/products/photoCD.html)



Publishing Information

RLG DigiNews (ISSN 1093-5371) is a quarterly newsletter published for members of the Research Libraries Group's PRESERV community. Materials contained in RLG DigiNews are subject to copyright and other proprietary rights. Permission is hereby given for the material in RLG DigiNews to be used for research purposes or private study. RLG asks that you observe the following conditions: Please cite the individual author and RLG DigiNews (please cite URL of the article) when using the material; please contact Jennifer Hartzell at bl.jlh@rlg.org, RLG Corporate Communications, when citing RLG DigiNews.

Any use other than for research or private study of these materials requires prior written authorization from RLG, Inc. and/or the author of the article.

RLG DigiNews is produced for the Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG) by the staff of the Department of Preservation and Conservation, Cornell University Library. Editor, Anne R. Kenney; Production Editor, Oya Y. Rieger; Associate Editor, Robin Dale (RLG); Contributors, Barbara Berger, John Dean, and Allen Quirk.

All links in this issue were confirmed accurate as of August 11, 1997.

Please send your comments and questions to preservation@cornell.edu .





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