Table of Contents

• CLIR to Become a Sponsor of RLG DigiNews
• Feature Article Digital Imaging for Photographic Collections: Foundations for Technical Standards by Franziska Frey
• Technical Review
• Highlighted Web Site
• Calendar of Events
• Announcements
• FAQs
• RLG News
• Hotlinks Included in This Issue

CLIR to Become a Sponsor of RLG DigiNews  

RLG is happy to announce that the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) will become a sponsor of RLG DigiNews. The sponsorship will allow RLG DigiNews to publish two additional issues in 1998, increasing publication from four to six issues.

The first issue of 1998 will be available in February with the remaining issues appearing on a bi-monthly basis. Along with increased frequency, readers should also anticipate a new look for RLG DigiNews. With issue 2:1, RLG's new logo will be incorporated, resulting in a new masthead and color scheme.

We are excited at this opportunity. With this new level of support, CLIR and RLG are both able to further their complementary missions -- by bringing you the best and most timely "DigiNews" available.
 

Feature Article  

Digital Imaging for Photographic Collections: Foundations for Technical Standards

Franziska Frey, Research Scientist, Image Permanence Institute
fsfpph@rit.edu

The project "Digital Imaging for Photographic Collections: Foundations for Technical Standards," funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is a two-year effort by the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) to investigate the key technical issues encountered in digitizing library and archives photographic collections. The objective of the project is to take the technical knowledge and experience resulting from the process of "going digital" and interpret, translate, and communicate it in a form library and archives collection managers can use. The formal part of the project ended in June 1997 with the organization of a three day colloquium entitled "Digitizing Photographic Collections." The colloquium brought 120 people from all over the world to Rochester, NY. The papers of the colloquium and the outcomes of the project will be published sometime next year.

There are no guidelines or accepted standards for determining the level of image quality required in the creation of digital-image databases for photographic collections. As a result, many institutions become disappointed by the results of their efforts. Some projects fail because digitization choices are not thought through carefully; others succumb because the technology changes in dramatic ways during the course of the project. Although it is difficult to plan for technological uncertainty (and without clear imaging standards) there are some basic rules that can be followed to minimize unexpected results.

Use of Digital Images
One of the big issues that institutions should consider prior to implementing a project is the anticipated use of their digital image collections. Will the images be made accessible on a stand-alone workstation or via the World Wide Web? Will they be used for printing reproductions? What size will the prints be? Are there restrictions on access that must be honored? These are only a few questions that have to be answered before a digitization project starts.

A growing consensus within the preservation community is that a number of image files must be created for every photograph to meet a range of uses. First, an "archive" or master image should be created. It should contain a brightness resolution greater than 8 bits per channel; it should not be treated for any specific output in mind; and it should be left uncompressed or compressed in a lossless manner. From this archive file various access files can be produced as needed to meet specific uses. The following are three examples of access files created to meet various needs. In each case, the intended use drives the decision regarding digital image quality:

• The digital image is used only as a visual reference image in an electronic data base. The required digital image quality is low, both in terms of spatial and brightness resolution content. The display is usually limited to a screen or a low-resolution print device. Thumbnail image size for screen viewing usually does not exceed a width of approximately 250 pixels. If an additional larger image size for low resolution previewing on a print device or larger viewing on screen is desired, pixel dimensions of 480 by 640 are sufficient for most applications. Exact color reproduction is not critical. Additionally, images can be compressed to save storage space and delivery time.
• The digital image is used for reproduction. The requirements for the digitizing system will depend on the definition of the desired reproduction. Limiting output to certain spatial dimensions will facilitate the decision-making process. As an example, if the output is limited to an 8x10-inch hard copy at a resolution of 300 dpi, the dimensions of the digital file need not exceed 2,400 by 3,000 pixels. The same applies to tonal reproduction. Currently, most digitizing systems will only allow an 8-bit per color output. It is important to note that if these colors are not mapped correctly,the access file may not always replicate the tonal and color appearance of the original.
• The digital image represents a "replacement" of the original in terms of spatial and tonal information content. This goal is the most challenging to achieve in terms of today's digitizing technologies and cost. The information content in terms of pixel equivalency varies from original to original. It is defined not only by film format, but also by emulsion type, shooting conditions, and processing techniques. Additionally, 8-bit-per-color digital capture might be adequate for visual representation on today's output devices, but it might not be sufficient to represent all the tonal subtleties of the original. Ultimately, "information content" has to be defined, whether based on human perception, the physical properties of the original, or a combination of both.

If the intended uses noted above were independent from one another, they would each require a different approach to the digitization process and would differ dramatically in terms of cost of production. In most cases, however, these intended uses might all be considered when an institution digitizes a collection of photographs. Moreover, it should be kept in mind that scanning from an archive is different from scanning for prepress purposes. In the latter case, the variables of the process the scanned image is going through are well known, and the scanning parameters can be chosen accordingly. If an image is scanned for archival purposes, there will be a range of uses for those images, and these may change as the technology changes. This leads to the conclusion that decisions concerning the initial capture of archival images are very critical to their long-term utility. This is a new concept for both curators and technologists. The ANSI standards group for Electronic Still Picture Imaging (IT10) will be one place to address this issue.

Establishing a Quality Framework
Working on different aspects of image quality has shown us that the parameters are difficult to define, and that they have to be looked at as a whole "quality framework." The more one looks at image quality and possibilities to clearly define it, the more parameters have to be taken into account. The most important outcome of this project will be to illustrate where the crucial points of image quality are and where they have to be considered in the work flow of an imaging project. In addition to issues associated with the actual scanning, we have looked at compression, file formats, image processing for various usage, and system calibration.

Scanning Systems: Successfully digitizing a photographic collection requires as much experience as conventional reformatting. The ease of use of many digitizing systems has fostered the perception that scanning is "simple." Additionally, most of the available scanning technology is still based on the model of immediate output on a current output device with the original in hand. Spatial resolution and color mapping are determined by the intended output device. Depending on the quality criteria of the project, a more sophisticated system, and more expertise by the operator, are needed to successfully digitize a collection in an archival environment where future output devices are not yet known. The characteristics of scanning devices such as optical resolution, dynamic range, registration of color channels, bit-depth, noise characteristics, and quantization controls need to be carefully evaluated with consideration of the future uses of the digital images.

Different scanning systems were evaluated since the wide variety of photographic materials and the range of potential uses require different scanning approaches. For high-quality imaging projects it will in most cases be best to scan the original - this might restrict the use of certain scanning equipment. Current scanning technology deals reasonably well with current film emulsions and formats, provided that they have been exposed and processed correctly. However, many collections of high artistic and/or historical value were captured on photographic material that is no longer used and the originals have deteriorated to some degree.

Technical Targets: The image quality framework being developed by IPI will include test targets for objective testing of four main image quality parameters:

• Tone reproduction
• Color reproduction
• Detail and edge reproduction
• Noise

Discussions with various people in the field have shown that it is important to emphasize that targets are about the scanning system and not about collections. This means that the tests to be performed are primarily aimed at characterizing the scanning systems. At this point, scanning the actual photographs will still often require the skills of a well-trained operator. In a few years, some of these tasks will be automated, and manual interventions will become less necessary.

Each one of the main image quality parameters needs special targets consisting of the same material as the materials to be scanned - photographic paper and film. Custom made (following the IT10 Standards recommendations) as well as commercially available targets are being used in this project. After targets are scanned, they are evaluated with a software program. Having an objective tool to compare different scanning devices will become increasingly important. Up to now scanner manufacturers usually have relied on their own software when evaluating and testing systems.

In addition to these objective measurements of image quality, taking into account subjective judgments from users allows the inclusion of aesthetic issues in the final quality decisions. This is especially important because human judgment decides the final acceptance of an image. The final report of this study will include a section on human perception.

Color Management: One of the most difficult tasks associated with scanning photographs involves color management. As noted earlier, there is a growing consensus that 8-bit-per-color scanning may not be adequate for capturing all the tonal subtleties of the original photograph. Operator judgments made in terms of color and contrast cannot be reversed in a 24-bit Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color system. Any output mapping different from the archived images' color space and gamma must be considered. On the other hand, saving "raw" scanner data of 12 or 16 bits per color with no tonal mapping can create problems for future output if the scanner characteristics are not well known and profiled. The most important attribute of a color space in an archival environment is that it is well defined. Scanning devices should be very well characterized spectrally, and the information should be readily available from the manufacturers.

Which color space should be used? Will color profiles still be maintained or even used in the future? Optimally, it would be good to archive 10-bit- to 12-bit-per-channel standardized RGB color space. Having to communicate only one color space (or profile) to the end user would facilitate optimal rendering of all images across all platforms and devices. If the color space is standardized and universally recognized, it would eliminate the need to embed a profile into each image file. Embedding profiles into each image file creates too much of a data overhead when delivering preview files over the Internet. There would also be only one "profile" that needs to be updated when color management specifications evolve in the future.

Since near-term access to any file will most probably be via a monitor using an RGB color space, choosing to keep the access data in the currently defined sRGB is a valid solution. Images in sRGB will display reasonably well even on uncalibrated monitors. A higher bit-depth per channel would make it possible to communicate the predefined rendering intent for each image, while leaving enough bit-depth for users to modify the image and to map to the intended output device. It would also provide a buffer in the archive file if future high-quality output devices require extensive mapping to as yet unknown color gamut and gamma. Also, colors that currently fall out of gamut could still be accounted for by leaving enough "head room" on both ends of the values scale when defining black and white values. A standard way to deal with higher than 8-bit-per-channel image data across platforms and applications has yet to be developed. (See the Technical Review column for more information on color management and an initiative of the International Color Consortium to define universal color space.)

Back to the Past - Now and in the Future
It has been encouraging to see the development of high-quality tools destined for digital image applications other than pre-press. However, there is still a need for more integrated systems to truly achieve a seamless, transparent work flow of images across platforms, devices, and, ultimately, time. No one imaging technology manufacturer will ever be able to dictate to the end-user which imaging system to use. Additional standards will have to be developed to facilitate communication between imaging systems and to enable high-quality digital imaging for image data base applications. Without addressing all these issues, many institutions and corporations now starting their high-quality scanning projects will be disappointed sooner or later, because the decisions made were not suitable for the technology of the near and far future.

Technical Review  

This technical feature introduces the concept of Color Management Systems (CMS) and the work of the International Color Consortium (ICC). One of the main challenges in digitizing color documents is to maintain color fidelity and consistency across the digitization chain, including scanning, image display, and printing. The main source of difficulty behind accurately reproducing colors stems from the fact that the color gamut of input/output devices will differ because of a lack of uniform color space. For example, scanners capture colors using the RGB (red, green, and blue) or Photo YCC (1) color model, while printers use the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) model that is based on the absorbing quality of ink printed on paper. Additionally, operating systems present colors differently; color can vary on different monitors; and the viewing environment can dramatically affect the appearance of the value or intensity of various hues. In this issue, our highlighted web site offers a wealth of information on color, including color spaces and gamuts.

Color Management Systems have been developed to replicate or map the colors and tones of the original source to the creation and presentation of digital images. CMS can be grouped into three categories:

• Stand alone systems (hardware or software, or combination of hardware/software) to match color gamuts among input/output devices. These systems usually combine an array of color quality control instruments (such as densitometer, colorimeter, spectrophotometer) to calibrate the settings of digital image input and output devices to enable consistent and predictable capture and representation of color among all the devices in that system.
  
• CMS software that is built into operating systems, for example, Apple's ColorSync, and Windows 98's Image Color Matching 2.0.
  
• CMS standards that are tailored for specific software applications and integrated into products, such as Kodak Precision Color Management System (KPCMS) for Kodak scanners, displays, and printers (forerunner of ICC's color profile format).

The International Color Consortium (ICC) was established in 1993 by eight industry vendors for the purpose of creating, promoting, and encouraging the standardization and evolution of an open, vendor-neutral, cross-platform color management system architecture and components. Their "International Color Consortium (ICC) Profile Format" is intended to represent color consistently across devices and platforms. According to an Advanced Imaging article, ICC specifications may be slow in coming but they are already revolutionizing CMS as they provide basic guidelines describing what should be included within input and output device color profiles in order to ensure proper mapping to an ICC-compliant utility or application (2). CMS buyers should look for systems that are based on the ICC's profile format instead of proprietary systems. For example, because Sonnetech's Colorific software stores the monitor's profile in ICC format in the CMS of the operating system, one can use the company's plug-in for Internet Explorer to render the color of web images more accurately, based on this profile.

The following table lists the most popular stand-alone Color Management Systems that are ICC-compliant:

Footnotes:

(1) Photo YCC is a color encoding scheme developed by Kodak for consistent representation of digital images during processing (negatives and slides) and display. (Return to Text)

(2) Reils, Charles. "It is Real Now: Web Page Color Matching on Remote Monitor Screens" Advanced Imaging, September 1997, vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 76-78. (Return to Text)

Highlighted Web Site

Color FAQ
Created and maintained by Charles Poynton, this site features an extensive "Frequently Asked Questions" document about color in video, computer graphics, and print. The document is available in PDF, PostScript, and ASCII text format. The site also provides a link to a collection of resources concerning color technology, color image coding, and accurate color reproduction.

Calendar of Events

RLG's Managing Digital Imaging Projects Workshop
February 4-6, 1998
Following on the heels of October's successful workshop held at the Smithsonian Institution, RLG is pleased to offer its second 2.5 day workshop designed to assist librarians, archivists, curators, and preservation administrators in managing digital imaging projects. The workshop is described in the RLG News section of this issue.

Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives Workshop
March 22-27, 1998
The Cornell University Library Department of Preservation and Conservation will offer a weeklong workshop on the use of digital imaging technology in libraries and archives, to be held from March 22-27, 1998 in Ithaca, New York. Enrollment in this intensive workshop is limited to sixteen individuals to ensure adequate lab time for participants. Applications are due by due January 16, 1998. The registration fee is $1,350. The workshop has been revised to incorporate the recent developments, trends, and topics of interest in digital imaging. Several new sections have been added to the workshop on image quality assessment (textual and non-textual color images), image databases, color management, digital archiving, legal issues, and user evaluation. For further information: preservation@cornell.edu.

Second ICCC/IFIP Conference on Electronic Publishing
April 20-22, 1998
The second ICCC/IFIP Conference on Electronic Publishing will take place on 20-22 April 1998 at Budapest, Hungary. The theme is Towards the Information-Rich Society. As at the first ICCC/IFIP Electronic Publishing conference held in Canterbury, England, in 1997, papers on technical, human, and economic aspects of electronic publishing will be welcomed. For further information contact: Fytton Rowland, Department of Information and Library Studies, Loughborough University, J.F.Rowland@lboro.ac.uk.

Digital Libraries '98 - The Third ACM Conference on Digital Libraries
June 23-26, 1998
Digital Libraries '98 will provide a common setting for researchers, practicing professionals and students to share experiences and to present results about system construction, human-computer interaction, hypertext, information retrieval, digital librarianship, digital identifiers and many other topics related to the field of digital libraries. The conference attracts distinguished attendees from a diverse range of fields. Digital Libraries '98 will provide a forum for presentation and discussion of exciting and original developments in digital libraries through a variety of formats: papers, panels, short papers, demonstrations, posters, tutorials, and workshops. ACM Press will publish the Proceedings of Digital Libraries '98. Critical Dates:
January 15, 1998: Papers due, Proposals for Panels, Workshops, and Tutorials due.
April 13, 1998: Short Papers due. Proposals for Posters and Demos due.

Announcements

University of California, Berkeley Develops Aid for Effective Searching
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Information Management & Systems has been awarded a $954,180 research contract to make searching for documents and for data easier and more cost-effective. The project is called "Search Support for Unfamiliar Metadata Vocabularies." Searching is likely to be effective and efficient only when the searcher is familiar with the classification, categorizing, and indexing schemes ("metadata vocabularies") being searched. The rapid increase in the number of databases that can be accessed over the Internet means that searches will increasingly require use of indexes and classification schemes that are unfamiliar to the person searching. To provide a cost-effective remedy, the researchers will develop Entry Vocabulary Modules that accept topical statements in the searcher's terms, and respond with a ranked list of terms in the system's vocabulary. The principal investigator for the three-year project is Professor Michael Buckland, with Ray Larson, Associate Professor in the School, and Fred Gey, Assistant Director of Campus UC Data Archive & Technical Assistance. The project will run from July 1997 through June 2000.

Commission to Issue German Report on Digitization for Preservation
The Commission on Preservation and Access has published an English version of a report from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Association) on issues involved in using digitization for preservation purposes. The report, Digitization as a Means of Preservation, was written by Dr. Hartmut Weber and Dr. Marianne Dörr, and translated under the auspices of the European Commission on Preservation and Access, which made the English version available in Europe in July 1997. (Plans for translating into English an additional German report, Retrospektive Digitalisierung von Bibliotheksbeständen für eine Verteilte Digitale Forschungbibliothek, are under consideration.)  

Cornell Institute for Digital Collections
Documents, scientific specimens, works of art, and other materials previously available only to a few scholars will be made available worldwide through a new digital imaging program at Cornell University. The Cornell Institute for Digital Collections (CIDC), funded by $2 million in private grants, will make images of these cultural and scientific collections immediately and universally accessible to anyone with a computer and a modem via the World Wide Web. The new institute also will develop tools to help educators use these images and will conduct research on how best to manage the new technology.  

Documenting the American South: The Southern Experience in 19th-Century America
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is pleased to announce its Library's digitization initiative, "Documenting the American South: The Southern Experience in 19th-Century America" This database presents primary source materials documenting the cultural history of the American South. It features diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, travel accounts, titles on slavery and regional literature drawn from the rich Southern holdings of the UNC--CH Academic Affairs Library. Over 70 titles (or 16,000 pages of primary source materials) have already been digitized and published on the WWW. A complementary project, "A Digitized Library of Southern Literature: Beginnings to 1920" has been initiated, with the first twenty-five texts coming from the Southern collections of the libraries at UNC-CH. All the selected materials are encoded according to the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI P3) SGML-based Guidelines, using TEILite.DTD (version 1.6). There is also an HTML version, as an alternate format, for all the electronic editions encoded in SGML/TEI. The translation from SGML to HTML has been generated using a perl script. The project is available at http://sunsite.unc.edu/docsouth and supported by the Academic Affairs Library, the Ameritech Co., Inc., the Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the SunSite at UNC- CH. For further information contact: Natalia Smith, Digitization Librarian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, nsmith@email.unc.edu.

The Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries
A new alliance of Canadian libraries interested in improving communication and coordination in the development of Canadian digital library resources has been formed. The Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries (CIDL) will provide a forum for: sharing information and experience related to digital libraries; discussing best practices in areas such as digitization, metadata, encoding, rights management, etc.; defining roles and responsibilities for long-term archiving of Canadian digital resources; raising awareness of Canadian digital library activities both in Canada and internationally; and discussing many other issues including training, funding, interoperability, and public access.  

Selected Archives at Georgia Tech and Emory (SAGE)
The Woodruff Foundation has funded the Woodruff Library at Emory University and the Library and Information Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology $1.5 million to create a multimedia virtual archive that will be a pilot project for technological innovation. The SAGE content will focus on the papers of former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and selections from several human rights collections. The project will develop new ways to index and display library materials on the computer. The SAGE project will create an indexing system with keyword search capabilities and the project will also create an environment where researchers will be able to access and examine information in many different formats at a single computer workstation. For further information contact: T.J.Becker, Georgia Institute of Technology, tamara.becker@vpea.gatech.edu.

International Standards Organization Archiving Efforts
ISO Technical Committee 20 and its subcommittee SC-13 are investigating the feasibility of developing standards for long term data archiving. The Committee drew heavily on the RLG/CPA report on digital archiving. and has assigned this activity to Panel 2 archive working group within the existing Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. To date, the group has concentrated on developing a Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS), which defines a minimum set of responsibilities for the recognition of an OAIS archive and provides a framework for understanding the challenges associated with permanent or indefinite long-term information preservation. It also provides a framework for the development or adoption of additional archive standards.

University of Michigan Making of America Site Now Online
The University of Michigan Digital Library Initiative has completed the first phase of its Making of America project, now including approximately 650,000 pages of books and journals from the latter part of the 19th century. This resource now contains 1,601 books and ten journals with more than 49,069 articles documenting America's social history. Based on feedback solicited in earlier announcements for the resource, as well as local user studies, the current implementation adds functionality in a number of areas. Notable features of the current system include the following:

• Users may search the full text of the 685,885 pages, retrieving results almost instantly.
• The system now includes browsable bibliographies for the journal articles and the monographs.
• The UM MOA resources have been encoded in a simple SGML form.
  
  Future Developments:
• Integration with the Making of America materials at Cornell University is a high priority.
• Migration from "raw" to "cooked" can take place gradually, based on the availability of resources and specific demands. The Humanities Text Initiative, a part of the Digital Library Production Services at the UM, will undertake the process of proofing OCR and refining markup based on user demand.
• The UM Library will be incorporating digital conversion into its Preservation Department's "Brittle Books" program. New materials will be added to the MOA site as they are converted.
• Bibliographic information in monographs will be enhanced with improved catalog records by the end of 1997.
• We hope to work with other institutions and funding agencies to make more significant additions to the MOA site. Please send expressions of interest to moa-info@umich.edu.

For further information contact: John Price-Wilkin, Head, Digital Library Production Services, University of Michigan, jpwilkin@umich.edu.

National Archives Digitized Images
The first group of digitized images of some of the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) most significant documents is now available to the public through the Internet. As part of the Electronic Access Project, these 5,300 documents are the first of approximately 120,000 items that will be digitized and made available electronically over the next year. The digitized materials including photographs, drawings, maps, charts, and textual documents, can be accessed on the World Wide Web through the NARA Archival Information Locator (NAIL). Additional documents will be added to NAIL monthly through April 1999. Highlights of the newly digitized materials include:

• Watercolor sketches by John J. Young from a 1859 exploration of the Utah territory;
• Civil War maps, plans, engineering drawings, diagrams, blueprints and sketches of forts;
• Civil War photographs by Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner and George N. Barnard;
• Groundbreaking photographs by Lewis Hine documenting child labor abuses for the National Child Labor Committee, 1908-12;
• Original sketches drawn by artist Charles Alston to highlight the participation of African Americans during World War II.

State of Kentucky Committee on Imaging
In the spring of 1997, the State of Kentucky established a committee on imaging to provide assistance, advocacy, and guidance in the implementation of imaging technology in state records and other related state resources. Major initiatives of the Committee on Imaging include the development of an invitation for bid for imaging vendors that is available on their Web site.

FAQs

Free Digital Preservation Newsletters and Journals

Question:
One of the problems with information on digital preservation is that the field changes so rapidly. What are the available print, web-based or electronic newsletters/journals relating to digital preservation?

Thaddeus Lipinski
Network Applications Manager, Bodleian Library
Oxford, UK

Answer:
There are quite a few free publications to help us keep abreast of new developments in digital preservation. Nevertheless, none of them (except RLG DigiNews) has the sole focus on digitization and preservation. Most of the publications cover general issues, such as recent developments related to digital libraries including news and technical discussions, or focus on aspects of digitization covering hardware/software advancements.

As we came up with a long list of publications that might be of interest to you, we organized them into two groups, and will feature only the electronic ones in this issue. The next issue will cover the print publications.

Ariadne (bimonthly)
Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (UK), the newsletter describes and evaluates sources and services available on the Internet and reports on progress and developments within the Electronic Libraries Programme.

CAUSE/EFFECT (quarterly)
Focuses on managing and using information resources in higher education. It is published by CAUSE, Association for Managing and Using Information Resources in Higher Education.

Commission on Preservation and Access Newsletter (monthly)
Published by the Commission on Preservation and Access, the newsletter reports on cooperative national and international activities on preservation and access.

Current Cites (monthly)
Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne, it offers an annotated monthly bibliography of selected articles, books, and electronic documents on information technology.

Digital Library News (three issues/year)
Acts as a brief alerting/reporting service for those working in the diverse fields of digital libraries. It 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.

D-Lib Magazine (monthly)
Offers articles, commentaries, and briefings in support of digital library research. It is produced by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) and is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on behalf of the NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Libraries Initiative.

dpi: Digital Photography and Imaging (monthly)
Highlights recent developments in digital photography and imaging. It is published by Christopher Wright (Norfolk Islands).

Initiatives in Digital Information (quarterly)
Highlights the digital information resources at the University of Michigan.

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (quarterly)
A publication of the Science and Technology Section, Association of College and Research Libraries, it serves as a vehicle for science and technology librarians to share details of successful programs, materials for the delivery of information services, and background information and opinions on topics of current interest.

Journal of Digital Information (irregular)
Supported by the British Computer Society and Oxford University Press, it covers international developments in digital libraries and information management.

Journal of Electronic Publishing (irregular)
Focuses on current issues and trends in electronic publishing to serve the needs of the "thoughtful forward-thinking publisher facing challenges." It is published by the University of Michigan Press.

Knowledge Management World (bimonthly)
Covers the new software, hardware, and service developments in support of knowledge/information management systems. It is published by the Knowledge Asset Media.

National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH) Newsletter (irregular)
Published by NINCH, It reports on digital networking developments to assure the fullest possible participation of the international cultural sector in the new digital environment.

NetBITS (weekly)
This TidBITS Electronic Publishing newsletter aims to provide practical Internet information.

The Public-Access Computer Systems Review (irregular)
Publishes papers on topics such as digital libraries, document delivery systems, electronic publishing, expert systems, and hypermedia and multimedia systems. It is published by the University of Houston Libraries.

RLG DigiNews (bimonthly)
Focuses on issues of particular interest and value to managers of digital initiatives with a preservation component. It is produced under contract for the Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG) by the staff of the Department of Preservation and Conservation, Cornell University Library.

SunWorld Online (monthly)
Includes information on technologies important to digital library developers. It is published by Web Publishing Inc.

ZD Net Anchor Desk (daily)
A publication of ZD Net, it provides important computer news.

RLG News

RLG PRESERV Working Groups Making Significant Progress
Three of PRESERV's five working groups have prepared draft documents as a step toward completing their respective charges. The Working Group on Digital Archiving, the Working Group on Preservation Issues of Metadata, and the Working Group on Preservation and Reformatting Information will all be releasing draft reports for comment from the RLG community within the next 1.5 months. The reports will be available via the RLG PRESERV Web site.

Managing Digital Imaging Projects - 2nd RLG Workshop To Be Held
Following on the heels of October's successful workshop held at the Smithsonian Institution, RLG is pleased to offer its second 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 Estimating 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 four times in 1998. The first workshop was held on October 27-29, 1997 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The upcoming workshop will be held on February 4-6, 1998 at the University of Chicago. The remaining workshops are tentatively scheduled as follows:

• May 13-15, 1998 (University of Leeds, UK)
• May 18-20, 1998 (University of Leeds, UK)
• November, 1998 (CA)

The prepaid registration fee for the workshop is $250 for RLG members and $400 for non-members. The cost includes the course workbook 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 for the Chicago, IL workshop is available now through the RLG PRESERV Web site (www.rlg.org/preserv/). You may also use the online 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 650-691-2238 or bl.rld@rlg.org, or Fran Devlin, at 650-691-2239 or bl.fed@rlg.org.

Update On RLG Digital Initiatives:
The "Studies in Scarlet" project (to create a virtual collection of materials about Marriage and the Law in the US and UK, 1815-1914 from the collections of seven RLG member institutions) nears the end of its production period. All scanning and text conversion is to be completed by the end of December. The collection is being assembled at RLG and will be made available for limited evaluation use, before being released for general use.

"Resources for the Study of Global Immigration: A Digital Collection Project", involves eleven member institutions from the US, Canada and the UK. The "Global Immigration" project is slated to begin in 1998.

Over the past year, RLG held twelve workshops to help archivists make their finding aids available using the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) implementation of SGML. RLG's ongoing finding aid initiatives include provision of a central point of access to distributed finding aids, with powerful searching and display. An early version of the Archival Collection Guides is now being evaluated by RLG's EAD advisory group. RLG is also coordinating special member pricing for the outsourcing of paper-to-EAD conversion (available in early 1998).

RLG has begun work on a new resource that will make museum and art collections available to researchers. The service will include records, images, and enhancement of searching by automating the use of controlled vocabularies in the formation of researchers' search queries.

All of the above new resources will be integrated with all the current RLG resources in RLG's new release of its popular Eureka^®on the Web interface. The new version is an easy-to-use interface that includes assistance in deciding which files to search, searching the text of SGML-encoded documents, navigation of document images, and controlled access to licensed materials. The first group of RLG member advisors is now providing feedback on the new release.

Hotlinks Included in This Issue

CLIR to Become a Sponsor of RLG DigiNews
Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR): http://clir.stanford.edu

Feature Article
Electronic Still Picture Imaging: http://www.pima.net/it10a.htm

Technical Review
Apple, ColorSync: http://colorsync.apple.com/
Color Solutions: http://www.color.com/
GretagMacbeth LLC: http://www.gretagmacbeth.com/diprod.htm
The International Color Consortium (ICC): http://color.org/
Kodak Color Management System: http://www.kodak.com/ppiHome/kodakProfessional/productsSupport/KCMS/KCMSIndex.shtml
LightSource: http://www.ls.com/colortron.html
Sonnetech: http://www.colorific.com/
Windows, Image Color Management: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/platform/icmwp.htm
X-Rite, Incorporated: http://www.x-rite.com/

Highlighted Web Site
Color FAQ http://www.inforamp.net/~poynton/ColorFAQ.html

Calendar of Events
Managing Digital Imaging Projects: a 2nd RLG Workshop http://www.rlg.org/preserv/mdip.html
Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives Workshop: http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/digital.htm
Digital Libraries '98 - The Third ACM Conference on Digital Libraries: http://www.ks.com/DL98/
Second ICCC/IFIP Conference on Electronic Publishing: http://www.iccc.inter.net/serv02.htm

Announcements
The Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/cidl/
Commission to Issue German Report on Digitization for Preservation: http://clir.stanford.edu/cpa
Cornell Institute for Digital Collections: http://cidc.library.cornell.edu
Cornell University Making of America Site: http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/
Documenting the American South: The Southern Experience in 19th-Century America: http://sunsite.unc.edu/docsouth
International Standards Organization Archiving Efforts: http://bolero.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/overview.html
National Archives Digitized Images: http://www.nara.gov/nara/nail.html
State of Kentucky Committee on Imaging: http://www.state.ky.us/kirm/imaging.htm
University of California, Berkeley Develops Aid for Effective Searching: http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/metadata/index.html
University of Michigan Making of America Site: http://www.umdl.umich.edu/

FAQs
Ariadne: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/
CAUSE/EFFECT: http://cause-www.colorado.edu/cause-effect/cause-effect.html
Commission on Preservation and Access Newsletter: http://clir.stanford.edu/cpa/newsletter/
Current Cites: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/
Digital Library News: http://cimic.rutgers.edu/~ieeedln/
D-Lib Magazine: http://www.dlib.org
dpi: Digital Photography and Imaging: http://www.digitalphoto.com.nf/
Initiatives in Digital Information: http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/IDINews/
Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/istl/
Journal of Digital Information: http://journals.ecs.soton.ac.uk/jodi/
Journal of Electronic Publishing: http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/
Knowledge Management World: http://www.iwmag.com/indexlibrary.htm
National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH) Newsletter: http://ninch.cni.org/News/News.html
NetBITS: http://www.netbits.net/default.html
The Public-Access Computer Systems Review: http://info.lib.uh.edu/pacsrev.html
RLG DigiNews: http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/
SunWorld Online: http://www.sun.com/sunworldonline/
ZD Net Anchor Desk: http://www5.zdnet.com/anchordesk/

RLG News
RLG PRESERV: http://www.rlg.org/preserv/

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 December 10, 1997.

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

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