1. NEXT STEPS FOR HIGHLANDER CENTER
ARCHIVES:
OPENING A CAN OF DIGITAL WORMS
SUSAN WILLIAMS
IS 585
NOVEMBER 22, 2010

2. PROJECT BACKGROUND
Highlander Center is 77 years old and faces many issues
relating to historical archival preservation. We maintain a
small core collection at our center in New Market, TN.
There are additional related archival materials at many
other institutions.
Since 2000, I have been the lead staff person working in this
facility. In the last two years, we received a SNAP grant
from the Tennessee Historical Records Advisory Board to
support progress in our archives.

3. ARCHIVAL PROCESS
 Overall Archival Work
Flow Chart – Very
Helpful!
From
Archival Management
 Software: A Report for
the Council on Library
and Information
Resources
 by Lisa Spiro
 January 2009

4. IMPROVEMENTS IN 2010 OUR ARCHIVAL ON-LINE WEBSITE
 Accessioning process
 Archival software – ARCHON
–
 Getting materials organized
and finding aids on-line
**All this was done with lots of
help!
PROGRESS IN THE LAST YEAR!!!!

5. SIS FINAL PROJECT
There were two areas that were researched for this
project.
 1. The first goal was simple, to determine a new
computer to buy for our library, with grant funds we
received.
 2. The second goal was to determine how to
organize and digitize additional photographs in our
collection. This turned out to be a complex can of
worms, opening up questions about
organization, digitization, storage, access, print
longevity and copyright.

6. CHOOSING A NEW COMPUTER
 This effort was straightforward. Selection
criteria included speed, multi-media
needs, storage capacity and performance. We
received $1000 for this purchase.
 Two options are possible, depending on whether
additional funds are available for other
components that are needed. The second
choice is a Dell Studio XPS 8100, for $700.

7. PROVIDES MULTI-MEDIA
COST $1028 FUNCTIONS, HIGHLY RATED BY
CONSUMER REPORTS
PREFERRED OPTION – HP PAVILION ELITE

8. ON TO THE ARCHIVAL CAN OF WORMS:
There are two types of photographs in our archive currently
that need attention. We have well over 1000 of each
type:
Developed photographs from 1980’s to early 2000’s
“Born digital” photographs minimally organized on the server
Need plan for:
Organization, preservation, digitization, printing, storage,
and copyright issues

9. ORGANIZATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS
First Step - Determine how to organize:
 Program/educational effort
 Date
 Staff/participants
 Place (photographs are primarily taken at our workshop
center, but do include photographs from communities and
events elsewhere)
 Content
Overall arrangement – by education program, and then by
date – This will allow photographs to be in related
groupings.

10. NEXT STEPS:
Developed photographs:
--Work on a set of photographs that are
organized now only in time order. Organize
by program area.
--Develop indexing database from this set.
--Do basic identification.

11. PRESERVATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS
 Steps for preservation:
Dispose of some photographs
(blurry, duplicative shots, shots of the
ceiling).
Place photographs in archival
envelopes, grouped in original
groupings, with negatives in archival sleeves.
Place in archival storage boxes.
Place exceptional/valuable photographs in
melinex or polyethylene sleeves.

12. DIGITIZATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS
Set up processing manual for these photographs, with instructions for how to scan to TIF, what
quality, and protocol for identification information.
 Digitization of important photographs should be in TIF format with the following quality:
 8x10 photoes - no less than 600 DPI’s
 Smaller photos – 5x7 or less – 1000-1200 (less than 5 x 7)
 Slides – 1200-2400
 Photoes of less importance can be scanned as jpegs, for the sake of limiting storage needs.
Both TIF and JPEGS are considered at this point suitable formats in terms of longevity of format.
 Problem- TIF copies are very large files that require substantial storage space that we do
not have at Highlander.
 Other problem: we have been digitizing photographs as we get requests but have been
making jpegs or TIF’s at 300 dpi. We need to rescan valuable photographs.

13. STORAGE OPTIONS
 Digital photograph files require large amounts of
storage space and ability to upgrade
software/hardware with new formats.
 Options:
 Buy larger server
 Use on-line cloud service. Our ARCHON program is
on a cloud service, Lunarpages. Some archives use
flickr to store digital photographs, or to share the
photographs with the public.

14. “BORN DIGITAL” PHOTOGRAPHS
 Next steps:
 Determine overall storage plan for digital materials for the
institution.
 Determine file format for saving new photographs.
Determine whether to try to save all photographs or
select for quality and information value. (This statement
makes archivists very nervous, but is a practical question
since people take so many digital photographs.)
 Re-organize current files of digital photographs.
Determine identification system for these.

15. PERMISSIONS FOR USE
 The issue of intellectual property is one with which we have
limited experience. In general we have had the rights to
photographs in our collection, particularly because many are
taken by staff people or by people who designate our right to own
and share the photographs.
 Because digital photographs are easy to share, we have many of
these from other photographers. For example, from our 75th
anniversary we have several thousand photographs from various
photographers, but with no agreement about use.
 Next steps: Our board is working on a policy about intellectual
property and archive staff will be part of this working group.

16. PRINTING DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS
There is much debate about the longevity of laser jet printed
photographs. Many printers, papers and inks do not create
photographs of long-lasting quality. Resource for this issue
www.wilhelmresearch.com.
Tennessee Director of Preservation Services Carol Roberts
suggested Epson printers, ink and paper, which have been tested
to provide archival quality prints based on this Wilhelm Research
site.
Next step: Explore purchase of an Epson photo printer for printing
archival quality prints from digital images. Current price for
Epson R-1900 is $249.99 and for the R2400 is $499.99. Ink
cartridges are $13.29 per cartridge on the Epson website.
www.epson.com

17. HELPFUL RESOURCES:
 Carol Roberts, Director of Preservation
Services, Tennessee State Library and Archives
 The Digital Library Handbook, edited by Diane
Kresh, American Library Association, 2007.
 Some Issues in the Indexing of Images, Sara Shatford
Layne, 1994. John Wiley and Sons.
 www.epson.com
 www.wilhelmresearch.com