Overview: Digital photographs are produced primarily in two ways: natively born digital via a camera, or through a transformation, such as digitization. In both cases, there can be multiple versions, file formats, and file sizes for the digital photograph files. Considering in advance how to package these for digital preservation is a worthwhile activity. It will assist you with syncing files, creating instructions for your producers, and populating your digital workflows.
Packaging considerations:
Selection - Which digital photographs will be preserved?
Format - What file formats are you preserving?
Organizing the files - How are the files organized? Will you need to make changes?
Metadata - What metadata do you need, and have, and what metadata will be created automatically?
Digital Photograph File Format
- What are the file formats for the digital photographs in your collections?
- Are they in the preferred file formats according to the Library of Congress?
https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/stillimg.html
- Do the files need to be transformed into a different format?
Packaging Issue | Born-digital Photographs acquired in a single batch |
|---|---|
Organize by Date, Project, or Photographer Organized by Accession or Purchase | |
Packaging Issue | Born-digital Photographs with multiple versions |
Packaging Issue | Digitized Photographs created in a single batch |
Organized by Date, Project, or Digitizing Vendor Organized by Photograph version (primary, access, crop, etc.) | |
Packaging Format Consideration