Message-Id: <199912142314.QAA09900@dns.ccit.arizona.edu> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 16:15:04 -0700 From: Tim Au Yeung <mailto:ytau@UCALGARY.CA> Subject: Re: File Naming Conventions To: mailto:IMAGELIB@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
The easiest solution is to map the filename to the original accession number through a database. The challenge of trying to truncate an existing number is that you cannot guarantee that the new name will be unique; by using a new scheme for filenames, you can ensure unique names. Typically, I use three characters followed by four digits followed by a character. The first three characters represent a particular collection or category, the four digits an item within the collection/category and the last character describes the variants. This scheme allows 17,000 collections/categories and 10000 items in each category/collection and 26 variants of each item.However, if you are only using CD-ROM for storage and it does not need to be compatible across platforms or usable in systems outside of your own, CD-ROM filenames can be larger than 8 characters. For Unix systems, using Rockridge extensions, a CD-ROM filename can be 256 characters, on a Mac -- 32 characters using Mac-compatible names and in Windows 95/98/NT/2000 the Joilet file system allows 64 characters. Two cautions when doing this however: 1) None of these are cross-platform compatible, 2) It can be more tricky to create and requires a higher level of user experience.
Tim
-------- Tim Au Yeung Manager of Digitization Initiatives Information Resources (Press) University of Calgary voice: 403.220.8975 email: ytau (at) ucalgary.ca
----- Original Message ----- From: SC_Stuart (Stuart Hinds) <mailto:sc_stuart@KCLIBRARY.ORG> To: <mailto:IMAGELIB@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 1999 3:42 PM Subject: File Naming Conventions
>
>
> I am posting this to the list for a colleague. She works in an art
museum, > and is embarking on a digitization project. Her quandry involves naming
the > electronic files associated with different scanned views of the same
object. > I work in a library, and the materials we scanned (images.kclibrary.org)
> were unique unto themselves, thus I didn't have to deal multiple views of
> the same object. I believe she's going with CD-ROM for storage purposes,
> and thus is limited to 8 characters as a file name (the original accession
> numbers for the objects often run longer than that).
>
> Any suggestions, tips, etc.?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Stuart Hinds
> Special Collections Librarian
> Kansas City Public Library
> 311 E. 12th Street
> Kansas City, MO 64106
> 816/701-3400 x2111
> mailto:sc_stuart@kclibrary.org
>