Message-Id: <mailto:199505162003.PAA13450@library.wustl.edu> Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 14:58:00 EST From: Tim Barnett <mailto:0005955798@MCIMAIL.COM> Subject: Image Database To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
To: mailto:Imagelib@listserv.arizona.eduFr.: Tim Barnett
MCI Mail: 595-5798
I am working with an Educational Non-profit organization that has a
library of 500,000 slides and negatives that we wish to digitize.
The majority of these images are of unique historical and
sociological interest and are irreplaceable.
We want to stop the clock on the deterioration of the images,
particularly the color images, some of which are from the early
60s and are badly faded, yet still make the collection available
to scholars and researchers. The images are used in lectures in
the form of slides or in video presentations and also for
producing museum quality prints.
We also would like to make the digital surrogate of sufficient
quality to replace the original in the event of a disaster where
the originals suffer irreparable damage.
As an organization largely dependent upon volunteer labor and
donations there are naturally budgetary constraints.
Given these parameters, can you advise us on what would be the
ideal 'library resolution' at which we should scan the images?
Also, what about the issue of density range? Many of the images
are black and white photographs shot in a photo-journalistic
style in Asia in the 40s and 50s. Detail in the shadow areas of
these images is important. Should we also set a minimum density
range for the scanning? (Here I am concerned that one of the
strong contenders, Photo CD, has a d-max. of only 2.8).
One possible strategy that we are considering is first creating
the database by scanning everything at a relatively low and
inexpensive resolution. Once everything is catalogued, we would
then select the more important images and scan those at a higher
resolution. Do you have any thoughts on this strategy?
In creating the database of the collection, are there cataloguing
and naming conventions that we should follow? Are there
descriptive standards that have been established for Image
Databases?
As you can see, we are new to what seems to be a relatively new
field and have a lot of questions! Thank you for any assistance
you can offer.
Tim Barnett