RE: Digital archiving for the web

Brendon,
We are a small public library that partnered with the
Publication of Archival Library & Musuem Materials
(PALMM) project of the Florida Center for Library Automation
to digitize and deliver images from our photo collection.
Here's a link to their site: http://palmm.fcla.edu/
<http://palmm.fcla.edu/>
 

While FCLA did all the tech work, I do recall that our TIFF
images were treated with Mr. Sid. The result is amazing
detail, moderately fast load and the pan/zoom features you
mentioned. FCLA has since moved to better delivery
technology. From their Technical Info page:
 
"Visual Collections runs on DLXS software from the
University of Michigan Digital Library Production Service.
Descriptive information is searched using the XPAT full text
search engine, and images are displayed using Image Class
middleware. See the DLXS website <http://www.dlx
s.org/aboutdlxs.html>  for more information." 
 
Each collection has its own technical info page. FCLA folks
would welcome your questions. Please visit our Mile Markers
project linked in my sig below. We're quite proud of it!
 
My experience was that handling the images was the easy
part--descriptive metadata was the bear. As Roy Tennant
commented at a School for Scanning presentation,
"Describe an object to the deepest granularity that you
can possibly stand." (Kinda paraphrased, that was you,
wasn't it Roy? I don't have notes handy. I would add
"...that you can possilby afford.") You never know
how your images and metadata might be repurposed in the
future. For example, I never dreamed that 5 years later the
Scripps Institution would be using our little island outpost
digital archives for a historical marine ecology project...
 
Best wishes and good luck with your project,
Anne
 
Anne Layton Rice
Library Administrator
Monroe County Public Library
Key West, Florida
rice-annemonroecounty-fl.gov
 
Visit our award-winning history project:
www.mile-markers.org <http://www.mile-marke
rs.org> 
 

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:30:37 -0400
From: "Kozlowski,Brendon" <bkozlowskisals.edu>
Subject: [Web4lib] Digital Archiving for the Web
To: <web4libwebjunction.org>
Message-ID: <E42BD2DBCFF50E49A59BA1AA2DE64CDA01486D4EPostal.sals.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I am currently researching a solution to digitize some of
our library's historical content (and perhaps other
non-historical content in the future).  Some of the content
has already been digitized - but the staff would also like
to have a version viewable on our website.  The original
file size is too large to place on a website (it would take
about 30 minutes to download on a highspeed connection), and
if they are reduced in size to be placed on the website, the
high detail is completely removed (which is important to
keep in this regard).

I've noticed that the NY Public Library has something very
close to what I'm after in their digital gallery (see image
page <http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchde
tail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=293063&imageID=481134&wor
d=&snum=&p=&s=&notword=&d=&f=&to
tal=1&num=0&imgs=12&pos=1&staticMode=yes>
  and use "Pan & Zoom").  The Library of
Congress incorporates something similar in their
"American Memory" collection (such as the History
Map of Saratoga, 1888 <http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data
=/home/www/data/gmd/gmd380/g3804/g3804s/pm006300.sid&sty
le=pmmap&itemLink=D?gmd:156:./temp/~ammem_1U5z:&titl
e=Saratoga%20Springs,%20N.Y.%201888.%20Drawn%20%26%20pub
lished%20by%20L.%20R.%20Burleigh.%20Burleigh%20Lith.%20Est&g
t; ).  From my research, I know that the technology used for
NYPL is a server software from LizardTech, and the LoC uses
both software from LizardTech and Aware, Inc.

I'm currently in contact with someone from NYPL, but while
awaiting their response, I thought a opening up my questions
publically to many more professionals would be beneficial to
all.

What I'm trying to find out is the following information
from anyone who may be willing or able to help:
 - What options are there for (server?) software to handle
this specific need (if any)?
 - What considerations were made when planning for the
implementation of these tools?
 - What were the reasons for the final choice?
 - Are there any precautions to be aware of with any
possible solution?  (Personal/Organizational
experiences...)

I think any other information that we may require, I could
easily find on my own, but I would appreciate any help in
answers from those knowledgeable in these tools and
services.




Brendon Kozlowski
Web Administrator
Saratoga Springs Public Library
49 Henry Street
Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866
[518] 584-7860 x217



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