1. Digital Imaging for the NPS Museum Collection Web Catalog PMIS 73179 Harpers Ferry Center, Department of Media Assets

2. 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%

3.  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

4. Researched current practices and technologies.

5. 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…

7. Techniques and standard operating procedures were developed.

8. Staff needs and task assignments were projected and positions filled

9. Infrastructure expansion planned and implemented

10. Camera equipment purchased

11. Object supports gathered

12. Color management systems implemented

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

14. 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

15. Working on site requires park support and cooperation

16. DIP Team handles objects safely and sets up the shots

17. Rental of Special Equipment

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

19. Location set-up for EZ Cube

20. Copy stand set-up allow consistent document photography

21. Table Top Set-Ups require more space

22. Oversized documents are handled in other ways

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

24. Ethnographic Objects

25. Paintings and Reflective Art

26. Icons

27. Wood and Furniture Objects

29. Side Arms

30. Edged Weapons

31. Metal Objects

33. Ceramic and Glass Objects

35. Textile Objects

36. Entomological Specimens

37. Wet Specimens

38. Herbarium Sheets

39. Skeletal Objects

40. Archeological Objects

42. Geological and Fossil Specimens

43. Paper Documents

45. Some objects require many detail shots

46. Oversized Objects in Situ

47. 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.

48. 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

49. 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

50. 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

51. 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:

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