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Home > Guidelines > Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials > Technical Guidelines Resources

Technical Guidelines Resources

The resources on this page are provided to support digital imaging programs in applying the Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials. These resources have been selected by members of the FADGI Still Image Working Group, but this is not an exhaustive list of digital imaging resources for cultural heritage organizations. We welcome questions and feedback on the resources list through this online form or by email at [email protected].

 

Software

Note: FADGI does not approve, certify, or endorse commercial products. This is not an exhaustive list of software that may be used in a FADGI-conforming digitization program.

Image Analysis Software

OpenDICE and AutoSFR. Free FADGI conformance measurement and image analysis software tools developed by the Library of Congress.

Image Science Associates Golden Thread

Digital Transitions Golden Thread NXT

Image Engineering iQ-Analyzer-X

JHOVE. Open source file format identification, validation, and characterization tool.

Jpylyzer. Free validation and feature extraction software.

ImageZebra. System for tracking and improving quality of image capture devices.

Image Conversion Software

Robin Myers Imaging EquiLight 3. Corrects lens and lighting falloff.

Robin Myers Imaging SpectraShop 6

IrfanView. Free graphic viewer with a variety of image and TIFF tag editing features.

General Resources

Sustainability of Digital Formats Site, Library of Congress. Provides information about digital content formats.

Moving Theory into Practice, Cornell University Library

The NINCH Guide to Good Practice in the Digital Representation and Management of Cultural Heritage Materials, Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute, University of Glasgow, and National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage

Digital Preservation Coalition Handbook, 2nd Edition, Digital Preservation Coalition

Metadata

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Terms, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative

Encoded Archival Description, Official EAD site of the Library of Congress

Best Practice Guidelines for Encoded Archival Description, Research Library Group

CDL Guidelines for Digital Objects, California Digital Library

Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS), Library of contress

Metadata for Images in XML (MIX), Library of Congress

Administrative Metadata

Data Dictionary for Administrative Metadata for Audio, Image, Text, and Video Content, Library of Congress

Technical Metadata

Data Dictionary: Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images, National Information Standards Organization

"Automatic Exposure: Capturing Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images," Research Library Group

Preservation Metadata

“A Metadata Framework to Support the Preservation of Digital Objects,” OCLC

“Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects: A Review of the State of the Art,” OCLC

PREMIS (Preservation Metadata Implementation Strategies), Library of Congress

Rights Metadata

"Copyright Issues Relevant to the Creation of a Digital Archive: A Preliminary Assessment," June M. Besek

"Rights Expression Languages: A Report to the Library of Congress," Karen Coyle

MPEG-21 Standard, MPEG. Includes a discussion on intellectual property and rights.

Library Digitization Projects and Copyright, Mary Minow

Assessment of Metadata Needs for Imaging Projects

Guidelines for Implementing Dublin Core in XML, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative

Technical Overview

Raster Image Characteristics

"Introduction to Imaging (Getty Standards Program)," Getty Information Institute

Digitization Environment

Standards

ISO 3664 Viewing Conditions - For Graphic Technology and Photography

ISO 12646 Graphic Technology – Displays for Colour Proofing – Characteristics

These standards can be purchased from ISO at http://www.iso.ch or from IHS Global at http://global.ihs.com.

“Digital Imaging Production Services at the Harvard College Library,” by Stephen Chapman and William Comstock, DigiNews, Vol. 4, No. 6, Dec. 15, 2000

Quantifying Scanner/Digital Camera Performance

Standards

ISO 12231 Terminology

ISO 14524 Opto-Electronic Conversion Function

ISO 12233 Resolution: Still Picture Cameras

ISO 16067-1 Resolution: Print Scanners

ISO 16067-2 Resolution: Film Scanners

ISO 15739 Noise: Still Picture Cameras

ISO 21550 Dynamic Range: Film Scanners

These standards can be purchased from ISO at http://www.iso.ch or from IHS Global http://global.ihs.com

“Debunking Specsmanship,” Don Williams, Eastman Kodak, in RLG DigiNews, Vol. 7, No. 1, Feb. 15, 2003

“Image Quality Metrics," Don Williams, Eastman Kodak, in RLG DigiNews, Vol. 4, No. 4, Aug. 15, 2000

“What is an MTF…and Why Should You Care?" Don Williams, Eastman Kodak, in RLG DigiNews, Vol. 2, No. 1, Feb. 15, 1998

Guides to Quality in Visual Resource Imaging, Digital Library Federation and Research Libraries Group, July 2000

“Digital Imaging for Photographic Collections”, Franziska Frey and James Reilly, Image Permanence Institute, 1999

“Image Capture Beyond 24-bit RGB,” Donald Brown, Eastman Kodak, in RLG DigiNews, Vol. 3, No. 5, Oct. 15, 1999

Color Management

"Real World Color Management, 2nd Edition," Bruce Fraser, Chris Murphy, and Fred Bunting, Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA, 2004

Digitization in Production Environments

“Imaging Production Systems at Corbis Corporation,” Sabine Süsstrunk, DigiNews, Vol. 2, No. 4, August 15, 1998

“Imaging Pictorial Collections at the Library of Congress,” John Stokes, DigiNews, Vol. 3, No. 2, April 15, 1999

Digitization Specifications

Image Guidelines

Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Digital Library Federation

Storage and Digital Preservation

Digital Preservation Coalition

Digital Curation Centre

National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, Library of Congress

Electronic Records Archive Project, National Archives and Records Administration

“Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities,” Research Libraries Group and OCLC, May 2002

Working Groups

Still Image Working Group
This group is involved in a cooperative effort to develop common digitization guidelines for still image materials.

Audio-Visual Working Group
This group works collaboratively on common and sustainable technical guidelines, methods, and practices for digitized and born digital sound recordings and moving images.

Last Updated: 06/28/2023