Digital Imaging for the NPS Museum Collection Web Catalog PMIS Harpers Ferry Center, Department of Media Assets

Purpose of the Project  Provide digital images for a variety of park uses  Reduce risks to objects  Increase public use of the collections by 10%

 Make objects available to the public  Digital images provide information about the objects of our cultural heritage  Rethink methods for public interaction with objects  Support new uses on the internet  Become part of a personal digital agenda Desired Results

Researched current practices and technologies.

Preservation and Archives Professional: Guidelines for… Library Preservation at Harvard: Digital Preservation: Guidance… CDL Guidelines for Digital Images (CDL GDI) GUIDELINES FOR THE CREATION OF DIGITAL COLLECTIONS Recommended best practices for digital image capture of musical scores Digital History/Becoming Digital Inside CDL:CDL Guidelines for Digital Images California Digital Library Digital Image Format Standards Digital Imaging Joint RLG and NPO Conference: Guidelines for Digital Imaging Collaborative Digitization Program RLG Guidelines for Creating a Request for Proposal for Digital… “NARA Guidelines for Digitizing Archival…

Techniques and standard operating procedures were developed.

Staff needs and task assignments were projected and positions filled

Infrastructure expansion planned and implemented

Camera equipment purchased

Object supports gathered

Color management systems implemented

When in-house testing was complete we were ready to travel

Working successfully in the parks requires the planning and cooperation of many people.  DIP team members  HFC Support staff  Regional curatorial staff  Park curatorial staff  Park administration  Park maintenance staff  Contractors and vendors providing special equipment or services

Working on site requires park support and cooperation

DIP Team handles objects safely and sets up the shots

Rental of Special Equipment

Interior image capture is achieved with a laptop computer tethered to the camera

Location set-up for EZ Cube

Copy stand set-up allow consistent document photography

Table Top Set-Ups require more space

Oversized documents are handled in other ways

A variety of objects have been photographed for the Digital Imaging Project with many challenges encountered and met

Ethnographic Objects

Paintings and Reflective Art

Icons

Wood and Furniture Objects

Side Arms

Edged Weapons

Metal Objects

Ceramic and Glass Objects

Textile Objects

Entomological Specimens

Wet Specimens

Herbarium Sheets

Skeletal Objects

Archeological Objects

Geological and Fossil Specimens

Paper Documents

Some objects require many detail shots

Oversized Objects in Situ

Digital Asset Management Naming, organizing, formatting, reproducing and archiving images follows established standards on color managed equipment. This process often takes more time than the original digital capture.

Benefits To The Park Receive 72 jpeg and 300 tiff digital images captured by professional photographers  Park can use images with ANCS+ catalog records  Park can use images for in-house or commercial electronic or print publications  Park can use the images for insertion on the NPS Web Catalog  Park can request to have the images inserted in NPS Focus with Park Service only or public access

Collections will be preserved through reduced handling Increase visitation through media generated interest Public will have a greater understanding of the park and its collection More volunteers to the park Receive a greater number of research requests

WHAT’S NEXT? Complete staffing plan Continue to enroll parks Complete PMIS template Provide technical assistance to the parks in the fields of digital imaging and equipment selection

16 in SER 11 in NER 14 in NCR 23 in IMR 8 in AR 4 in MWR 76 Parks have provided DIP with object lists:

DIP’s have worked with 21 parks Still have 58 parks to shoot DIP’s have shot 8728 images of 3129 objects