1. Presented by: Michael Bevans Information Manager for Digitization
Imaging Guidelines and Image Archiving Practices Digitizing Plant Specimens at The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium
Presented by: Michael Bevans
Information Manager for Digitization

2. Background Imaging since 1998
Average 35,000 images per year since 2006
337,837 specimen images
27.7 TB image archive
2.5 TB remaining

3. Rapid Digitization Projects
Plants and Fungi of the Caribbean
150,000 specimen images
ADBC Plants Herbivores and Parasitoids
240,000 specimen images
ADBC Bryophytes and Lichens
300,000 label images
ADBC Macro Fungi
90,000 label images

4. 3 Year Projection 780,000 images 16 TB Caribbean and Plants and Bugs
35 MB per image
Bryophytes and Lichens and Macro Fungi
6 MB per image

5. Archive Audit GPI scans Thirteen years of legacy decisions
.DCR
.2TB
.SID
.479 TB
Thirteen years of legacy decisions
2 types of RAW file formats
DCR soon to be obsolete
Duplicate .TIFF files
Orphaned .SID files
Proprietary web derivative
GPI scans
High resolution .TIFF files
Free
2.5 TB
.CR2
2.5 TB
GPI scans
14.5 TB
.TIFF
7.58 TB

6. Housekeeping .TIFF and.SID files offline
All files stored on tape
All legacy file formats converted to a standard format
Compress large file GPI scans
200 MB per image to less than 90 MB per image
FREE
19 TB
GPI scans
7.5 TB
.DNG
3.6 TB

7. Archive Policy Why archive? Archive original camera capture as .DNG
Create new derivatives as technology evolves
E.g. Higher resolution images online
Don’t repeat digitization efforts
Archive original camera capture as .DNG
.DNG is an open license ‘archival’ format
Preserves metadata in the file
Parametric image editing
Small file size

8. Expanded Imaging Capacity
Low cost, easy to operate workstations
Less than $6000 each
21 megapixel camera
Copystand
Lightbox
Laptop
Small footprint
2’x4’

9. Imaging Lab

10. Standardized Production
Fixed specimen position
Color bar and scale included in margin
Standardized exposure
Simplified file naming
Barcode only v

11. Results of Standardization
Dramatically reduced user error
Fewer reshoots required
Increased productivity
From 53 to over 85 exposures an hour*
Over 200,000 images in the last 12 months
Over 4000 images by volunteers
* Eliminating barcode scanning at capture produces up to 200 exposures per hour

12. Retrieve specimens from Herbarium Re-file specimens in Herbarium
Imaging Workflow
Retrieve specimens from Herbarium
Photograph specimens
Scan Barcode
Rename file
Re-file specimens in Herbarium
Add Metadata
Creator, Copyright
Filename/QC
Image Processing
Export Derivatives
Archive
DNG
Batch OCR
Grayscale Jpegs
KeEmu Database
Full Size, RGB Jpegs
Data + Jpegs
Available Online

13. Retrieve specimens from Herbarium Re-file specimens in Herbarium
New Imaging Workflow
Retrieve specimens from Herbarium
Photograph specimens
Re-file specimens in Herbarium
Add metadata
Creator, ©
Image Processing
Export Derivatives
Bar-decode Filer
Batch rename
Filename QC
Archive
DNG
Batch OCR
Grayscale Jpegs
KeEmu Database
Full Size, RGB Jpegs
Data + Jpegs
Available Online

14. For more information and a complete image processing workflow guide visit
Thank you