The document outlines essential practices and guidelines for conducting low-cost digitization projects, focusing on the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI). It covers factors such as project planning, rights and permissions, equipment options, and color management for effective digitization of photographic objects. Additionally, it discusses metadata creation, file naming conventions, and the importance of quality control in the digitization process.

1. Basic Imaging: How to Do a
Small Digitization Project
Anna Naruta-Moya, PhD
April 22, 2014
1

2. Anna Naruta-Moya, PhD
 Formerly an archivist for the Hoover
Institution Archives, Stanford University, and
the US National Archives; consulting
archivist (annanaruta.com) with credentials
approved by the New Mexico Historical
Records Advisory Board; archivist for State
of New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs
(ARMS)
2

3. Workshop Objectives
 Understand basics of emerging practices in
digitization projects
 Get familiar with guidelines emerging from the
Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines
Initiative, Still Images Working Group (FADGI
guidelines)
 Define a low-cost digitization project
 Identify photographic objects appropriate for
a low-cost system
 Understand basics of color management,
including creation of color profiles
 Learn to implement and operate the system
to create archival digital scans
3

4. Emerging Practices (FADGI)
 Federal Agencies Digitization
Guidelines Initiative, Still Image
Working Group
Technical Guidelines for Digitizing
Cultural Heritage Materials: Creation of
Raster Image Master Files (2010)
http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/guidelin
es/digitize-technical.html
4

5. Large Scale Digitization
Projects (i.e. not us!)
 “Mass
Digitization”
 High-end
equipment
 Example:
Kirtas
 Large staff
 Large
volume
 Big budget
5

6. Low-Cost Digitization Project
 In contrast to large-scale digitization project:
 Doesn’t have a full-time project manager
 Tools cost ~$500 - $2500
(from low end consumer scanner to Epson Expression 11000XL)
 You’ll need:
 Relatively homogenous format
 Well-defined project scope
 Planning, selecting and evaluating material,
creating metadata usually most costly part of
project
 Also big part of enabling success of project!
6

7. Advantages of Digitization
 Increase access
 Facilitate new uses
 Increase preservation of original due to
use of surrogate copy
7

8. Limitations
 Full-text searching: ideal vs. reality
Ability successfully use Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) software heavily
dependent on source material
 Computer tech requirements
Storage space
Access system
Software and hardware
8

9. Project Planning
 Stakeholders
 Goals for project
Create inhouse image database
researchers can use? Just for institution?
Public website?
 Timeline
 Resources (personnel, equipment,
financial)
9

10. Selecting What to Digitize
 Considerations:
 Homogeneity of format
 Contextualization -- Is descriptive information
about the collection available?
 Availability of metadata
 Intellectual property issues
 Possible access restrictions
 Audience: researcher interest
 Whole series? Subseries?
 Item-level or folder-level description?
10

11. Rights and Permissions
 Is it in copyright?
 Depends on type of material and what law was
in effect when it was created
 Refer to chart:
http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdom
ain.cfm
 Other permission needed?
 Check the deed of gift
 Other permissions or sensitivities that may
need to be considered?
11

12. Metadata
 See notes from Meet Metadata, Your
New BFF training by John Hyrum
Martinez, State Records Administrator
 Plan which fields you need
 Edit or create metadata before
digitizing
 Keep digitization workflow separate
12

13. File Names Should at Least
 Be unique
 Use lowercase letters of the Latin alphabet and the
numerals 0-9
 Have no spaces between characters
 Avoid punctuation marks other than hyphens and
underscores
 Have no more than 31 characters (the fewer the
better)
 Have a single period between the file name and the
three-letter extension
http://www.library.umass.edu/assets/aboutus/attachments/UMass-Amherst-
Libraries-Best-Practice-Guidelines-for-Digitization-20110523-templated.pdf
13

14. To Keep in Mind when
Designing Your File Naming
Scheme
 Each file name must be unique
 Name for the long term: how will this name scale as you add digital
material to your collections?
 File names should provide context: names could include codes for
department or collection.
 Keep file names simple for readability
 Self-explanatory file names make it easier to understand the context
of files as they make their way through digitization work flows
 The more complicated the file name, the higher likelihood of human
error when entering the name.
 Consider including the systemʼs unique digital object ID in the name of
the individual files that make up that object
 File names are not metadata: let your metadata describe the digital
object. Use file names to connect metadata to digital images
 File names will outlast the current project staff
Umass-Amherst
14

15. Does Your Filename Follow a
Numerical Scheme?
 Use leading zeroes to facilitate sorting
0000001.tiff
0000002.tiff
0000010.tiff
 If the filename scheme involves a data,
YYYYMMDD format facilitates sorting
15

16. Quality Control
 Plan for checking images and
metadata as part of project
Presence/absence
Accuracy/quality
16

17. Storing and Accessing Your
Images & Metadata
 Online (or inhouse) digital database / image
server
 Some opensource options:
 Omeka
 Murkutu
 Dspace
 Islandora (Drupal + Fedora)
 Archivematica
 Simple spreadsheet and folder(s)
 Can be imported into other systems later
 MS Excel
 LibreOffice (opensource, free)
17

18. Digital Preservation
 CDs, DVDs, external drive not recommended
for preservation purposes
 RAID array of hard drives, with additional
backup stored someplace else (non-
colocated)
 Professionally maintained servers
 Your internal IT system
 check in about digital preservation plan
 Hosted service (such as through Dspace,
Omeka, etc)
 Preservation and rights-friendly server services
18

19. Services -- Things to watch for
 Does the service make any claims on your
content?
 “unlimited, royalty-free sublicense…”
 Evaluation criteria: FADGI refers us to
 Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and
Responsibilities
http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/past/rlg/tru
stedrep/repositories.pdf
 Trustworthy Repositories Audit Certification
(TRAC): Criteria and Checklist
http://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/
pages/trac_0.pdf
19

20. Digital Preservation
 All things decay -- How do you monitor
for bitrot? Include a checksum as part
of your metadata
MD5 hash or SHA hash
Automatically generated for you with
many hosted services
Easy for you to make:
Karen’s Directory Printer (free)
20

21. Digital Imaging Equipment
Options
 Scanner
 Constant internal light source
 Slower
 Camera, copy stand, and lights
 Need to arrange constant light source (“studio
lighting”)
 Optimal: two lights set a 45 degree angle
 Unless fluorescent or LED, heat will be generated
 More rapid than scanning
 Additional supplies:
 White card, gray card, shutter release
21

22. Setting Imaging Standards
22

23. Setting Imaging Standards
 Bit Depth
 Resolution
 File Format
NMSRCA
23

24. The number of bits by which each
pixel is defined. Sets the range of
tonal values by which an image
can be represented.
Bit Depth
NMSRCA
24

25. 1-Bit Depth (2 values)
NMSRCA
25

26. 8-Bit Depth (256 values)
NMSRCA
26

27. 8-Bit Depth
Highlights & Shadows
NMSRCA
27

28. 24-Bit Color
(16,777,216 values)
NMSRCA
28

29. 24-Bit Color
Color information is broken
down into three channels—Red,
Green, and Blue—each
recorded at 8-bit depth. In
composite, these create
16,777,216 color values.
NMSRCA
29

30. The number of pixels by which an
image is represented, usually
expressed by a sampling rate of
pixels per inch (ppi), or by overall
pixel dimensions.
Resolution
NMSRCA
30

31. Before establishing project standards, know
your scanner’s specifications!
•Optical Resolution: Maximum number of samples per inch
that the scanner can take from your source material, often
much lower than the scanner’s advertised “maximum
resolution”
•Interpolated Resolution: An inflated resolution created by
adding pixels where no direct samples have been taken
from the source material
•High Resolution Platen Area: A special feature of some
scanners in which a higher optical resolution can be
produced from within a designated area of the scanner
platen
Resolution
NMSRCA
31

32. •Goals and needs of your institution
•How will the digital image be used?
•What are the resolution limitations of your output
devices?
•How will you store your digital files?
Other Considerations in
Setting Resolution
Standards
NMSRCA
32

33. 72ppi 600ppi
1200ppi
4”x5” black and white negative scanned at
72ppi, 600ppi, and 1200ppi
after NMSRCA
dpi = dots per inch:
printing
ppi = pixels per inch:
screen or file
33

34. 72ppi 600ppi
1200ppi
Detail of 4”x5” black and white negative scanned
at 72ppi, 600ppi, and 1200ppi
NMSRCA
34

35. Example:
4 inches x 5 inches x 24 bit RGB color x 300 ppi
x 300 ppi / 8 bits per byte / 1024 bytes per KB /
1024 KB per MB = 5.15 MB
File Size = (Height x Width x Bit depth x Resolution (ppi)2)
/ 8 bits per byte / 1024 bytes per KB
/ 1024 KB per MB
Calculating File Size
Measure Height & Width in inches, to match pixels per inch
https://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/tutorial/intro/intro-06.html
Calculating File Size
35

36. Example: a 4”x5” color print
scanned at the scanner’s
maximum resolution of 2000 ppi
and 24-bit color
(4” x 5” x 24 x 2000 x 2000) / 8 bits per byte / 1024
bytes per KB / 1024 KB per MB = nearly 229 MB
after NMSRCA
Calculating File Size:
Max Resolution Example
36

37. The format you select determines
how the image is stored, what
programs you can use to open it,
and to what degree the image can
be manipulated once it is opened.
File Formats
NMSRCA
37

38. Lossless (as opposed to Lossy file formats like
JPG
The most widely used, widely supported
bitmapped file format
Can support any dimensions, any resolution,
and any bit depth
Can encode bi-tonal, grayscale, RGB, and
CMYK color modes
Can be saved in compressed and
uncompressed formats
Tagged Image File Format
(TIFF)
after NMSRCA
38

39. Tonal Depth: 8-bit grayscale/24-bit RGB
color
File Format: TIFF
Scale: 100%
Compression: Uncompressed
Spatial Resolution: 4000 pixels across
the long dimension
NMSRCA Imaging Project
Standards for Masters
NMSRCA
39

40. FADGI Guidelines
For Reflection Scanning
 Format: 8 x 10” or smaller
4000 pixels along long edge
 Format: Larger than 8 x 10”
up to 11 x 14”
6000 pixels along long edge
 Format: Larger than 11 x 14”
8000 pixels along long edge
40

41. Planning for Resolution
(What ppi to Use)
 What ppi should you use to achieve the
spatial resolution of 4000 pixels across the
long dimension?
 Length in inches x Resolution in ppi =
number of pixels across length
 Resolution in ppi = number of pixels across
length / length
 Example: 8 x 10” photo
Resolution in ppi = 4000 pixels / 10 inches
Resolution = 400 ppi
41

42. Access Images
NMSRCA
42

43. Tonal Depth: 8-bit grayscale/24-bit RGB color
File Format: JPEG (lossy, but display in
browsers is supported)
Compression: Medium
Spatial Resolution: Maximum width of 640ppi by
a maximum height of 480ppi
Tonal Range: Adjust high and low input levels to
encompass the information in the scan; adjust
midpoint input level for best monitor display
NMSRCA Imaging Project
Standards for Access Images
NMSRCA
43

44. Deriving Access Images
•Open the master image in an image editing
program such as Adobe Photoshop
•Resize the image for monitor display at
actual pixel size
•Adjust tonal range for monitor display
•Keep a record of all modifications made to
the access image
•Save the file in a manageable file format
suited for high-speed delivery
•Can use Batch processing
after NMSRCA
44

45. Image Capture Equipment:
Scanner
after NMSRCA
45

46. Copy Table
46

47. Photographic Lights, Daylight
color temp 5000K - 5500K
http://archivehistory.jeksite.org/chapters/appendixd.htm
47

48. Camera Settings
 Using your “studio lighting” setup, set
White Balance using photo of white
card (or white sheet of paper)
 ASA 100 (for less “grainy” appearance)
 Output: RAW (requires developing into
TIFF) or TIFF
 Exposure: set using gray card
48

49. Other formats: Scanning
Slides with DSLR
http://www
.scantips.
com/es-
1.html
49

50. Other Formats: Oversize
 Low-Cost Tilt Top
Vacuum Table for
Digital Capture of
Newspapers and
Other Large
Paper Objects
http://www.wilhelm-
research.com/Vacuu
mTable/WIR-CFI_Tilt-
Top_%20Vacuum_Ta
ble_Guide_2013_05_
22_v3.pdf
50

51. Scanning:
Creating the Digital Image
•Allow the scanner to warm up
•Start each session with a clean
platen—check the platen for dust or
streaks between scans
•Remove dust from the source
material
•Place the image square and
securely on the glass
•Set the scanning software
according to your image size and
type, and your corresponding
standards -- turn off all
autocorrection
•Run a preview of the scan; if it
appears satisfactory, scan the
image as a TIFF file
after NMSRCA
51

52. Scanning:
Adjusting Tonal Input Values
•When using your scanning software’s
automatic tonal controls, be sure that
no tonal information is lost in the scan
•Loss will most often be seen in
shadows when scanning from positive
images or in highlights when scanning
from negative images
•If it is necessary to bypass automatic
tonal controls and manually set tonal
input values, aim for low-contrast in
your master image
•Keep a record of all automatic and
manual settings
NMSRCA
52

53. Setting Black and White
Points from Scanner Preview
Scantips.com
53

54. Image Scanned with Black
and White Points Set
http://www.scantips.com/simple4.html
54

55. Exceptions in Setting
Black and White Points
•When source
image does not
have full tonal
range
•In this instance,
resetting White
Point would
‘wash out’ the
image.
Scantips.com
55

56. Refer to histogram to
adjust the White Point
Scantips.com
Levels Tool
56

57. Refer to histogram to
adjust the Black Point
Scantips.com
Levels Tool
57

58. Refer to Histogram to Adjust
Brightness
 This provides a much better result than
the editor tools named Brightness and
Contrast
58

59. Curve Tool Provides Even
More Control than Level
 Once you are comfortable adjusting the
levels, start experimenting with using the
Curve tool instead. It can do the same
things, but offers more control.
59

60. Curve Tool
 Experiment during today’s hands-on
portion
 See the walk-through at
http://www.scantips.com/curve.html
and
http://www.scantips.com/curve/
60

61. FADGI Recommendation to
Aid Tone and Color
Reproduction
 Also include reference target when
scanning image
 Depending on scanner software,
reference target can be used to pick
Black Point and White Point
61

62. Targets for Tone and Color
Reproduction
 FADGI
recommends
including
reference
target in
preservation
master
 This particular
target was
developed for
them
62

63. Kodak Q-13 (8” long) or
Q-14 (14”) Gray Scale
 FADGI
recommends
because they
are printed on
black & white
photographic
paper
63

64. Aimpoint for Photographic
Gray Scales
 Reference targets
usually cropped
for access copies
of images
 Color bars “as
supplement” --
color is
not consistent”
(FADGI)
 Note: Ruler on
Kodak target “not
very accurate”
(FADGI)
64

65. Color Management --
ICC Color Profiles
65

66. Color Management
 ICC Color Profiles
 International Standard by International Color
Consortium (ICC)
 ICC profile = a set of data that characterizes a
color input or output device
 Describes your particular device, at this point in time
(age of its parts), and in current environmental
conditions (if seasonal fluctuations)
 Step 1: Calibrate Monitor
 Step 2: Profile Scanner (or digital camera)
66

67. Color Management
 Step 1: Calibrate Monitor
 Need: Calibration device (colorimeter) & manufacturer’s
software (~$150-250)
 Spyder (Datacolor Spyder4Pro)
 X-Rite’s ColorMunki or i1Display
 NEC Color Sensor
 Turn on monitor, let warm up at least 30 minutes
 Use light source you’ll use when working
 Curtains drawn? Desk lamp?)
 Calibrate colorimeter to ambient light, then place over
monitor in location indicated. Software plays known color
values and uses colorimeter to measure monitor’s
performance
 Resulting data saved as ICC profile in your system
software to tell computer how to use monitor to accurately
display image data
 Proper location in system preferences chosen by default by
your calibration software
 Repeat every 2-4 weeks
67

68. Spyder 4
colorimeter
From youtube video
by Kirk Norbury
68

69. FADGI: NARA Monitor
Adjustment Target
 FADGI guidelines recommend to
assess monitor visually after calibration
https://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/tutorial/presentation/presentation-07.html
69

70. Color Management
 Step 2: Profile Scanner (or digital camera)
 Need: IT8 target and IT8-enabled software
 IT8 = a set of American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) standards for color control specifications
 IT8 targets are photographically printed in small
batches to strict specifications, and then each color
swatch is read with a spectrophotometer
 Spectrophotometer data is used to create a data file
that is the exact color profile of that specific batch of
targets
 IT8-enabled software will compare known color values
to values read by your scanner, create ICC color
profile for your scanner which you apply to your
scanned images
70

71. IT8 Target
Keep target protected from light, dust, and temperature extremes
71

72. Obtaining an IT8 Target
 May come with scanner
 Vendors:
 EGM
 http://www.egm.es/servicios/servicios_interior/18
 Wolf Faust ($10 with shipping)
 http://www.targets.coloraid.de/
 SilverFast (integrates with SilverFast software)
 Kodak
 “Reflective” target for calibration for scanning
prints
 “Transmissive” target for calibration for
scanning film or transparencies
72

73. IT8 Target Batch Number
 Each manufacturer has a unique
code to indicate which batch of
targets this one belongs to
 Code corresponds to known,
highly-precise measurements of
actual color of this batch
 Dataset (aka reference file) comes
with target, or can be downloaded
 The IT8-enabled software must
be told which data set to use
 Compare batch name on scanned
image with reference file selected
for software
 Barcode batch number in automated
system
73

74. Color Profiling Your Scanner
 Turn on scanner and let warm up for at least
30 minutes
 Disable any auto-correction features on
scanner (e.g. White Balance, exposure, etc.)
 Scan IT8 target at 200 dpi and save as
uncompressed TIFF
 Import TIFF into IT8-enabled software for
processing against reference file to create
ICC color profile for your scanner
74

75. IT8-Enabled Software
 ~$80-300 (sometimes bundled with scanner)
 ExactScan Pro (Windows, Mac, Linux)
 SilverFast (Windows, Mac)
 VueScan (Windows, Mac, Linux)
 Profile Prism (Windows) -- also supplier of 35mm
IT8 target
 Opensource software -- free
 CoCa, ICC Color Profiler for Digital Cameras and
Scanners (Windows, Linux) - beta
 Rough Profiler (enables CoCa for Mac)
75

76. CoCa
76

77. Digital Camera: Types of
Targets Read by CoCa
 Full list of targets at
http://www.dohm.com.au/coca
 Includes the IT8 target required for
scanner calibration, and many types
used for digital camera calibration
77

78. Profiling a Digital SLR
Camera with an IT8 Target
 You’ll shoot the IT8 target in bright sunlight
 Tape the target to a thick cardboard; will bend as
it heats in sunlight
 Use white card (or sheet of paper) to take
image for internal white balance feature
 Take several shots of target in RAW mode,
starting with normal exposure and increasing
 Fill about 3/4 of screen with target
 Use IT8-enabled software to create ICC
color profile for your camera
78

79. Software for profiling
cameras
 Any of the previously listed IT8-enabled software
 Additional target/software combinations listed at
 http://www.silverfast.com/show/dc-
targets/en.html
 http://www.cmp-
color.fr/eng%20digital%20target.html
 http://www.cmp-color.fr/E_CMP_Shop.html
 Step-by-step guide for profiling with IT8 target
http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-
center/profiling-a-camera-with-an-it8-target.html
79

80. What to do with the ICC
Scanner Profile
 This is different than the monitor profile,
which just sits in your system telling the
computer how to use the monitor
 Some scanner let you apply the scanner
profile to the scanner
 Scanner will then automatically attach profile to
output, and your images will display with true
color
 If you can’t apply the profile to the scanner,
you will need to attach it to the image in your
image processing software
80

81. Applying the ICC Scanner
Profile (in Photoshop)
http://www.booksmartstudio.com/color_tutorial/scanners.html
81

82. Then Convert to a Standard
Color Space
 FADGI recommendation: Save in a
standard color space for convenience
and digital preservation
sRGB for color images
Another standard space is Adobe RGB
(1998)
Gray Gamma 2.2 for grayscale images
82

83. Converting to a Standard
Color Space
83

84.  Assigning color
profile using
GraphicConverter
84

85. Raster Image (Photo) Editing
Software Options
 ICC-profile enabled options include:
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (Windows,
Mac) ~$115-150
GraphicConverter (Mac) $40
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program
[formerly General Image Manipulation
Program]) (Windows, Mac, etc)
opensource, free
85

86. Now You are a Master of
Color Management Using
ICC Color Profiles!
86

87. Digitization Hands-on Demo
87