Digital Imaging Lab

The DIL specializes in the digitization of a wide range of materials, including rare and special books, bound volumes, manuscripts, modern textual records, prints, photographs, negatives, slides, maps, posters, two-dimensional artworks and newspapers.

DIL services include consultation and support for patrons and for digital library projects and initiatives. This support includes project planning and management, rights and permissions review, equipment selection, imaging standards guidance, file format selection, workflow development, technical metadata creation and quality assurance.

Using professional imaging standards, color-managed workflows, conformance metrics and specialized capture equipment, the DIL creates digital images that accurately represent original materials while supporting their long-term access and use.

Reproductions of materials held in the Archives and Special Collections may be requested through the Digital Reproduction Request form. Publication-quality reproductions are a fee-based service; permissions to reproduce special collections materials are handled on a case-by-case basis depending on the condition of the materials and any existing rights considerations.

The Digital Imaging Lab is equipped with professional rapid-capture and specialized imaging systems designed for digitization of physical cultural objects. The lab’s camera system supports efficient, high-resolution capture of rare, fragile, oversized and complex collection materials.

To support a wide range of formats, the lab employs specialized equipment for overhead camera capture, rare book and bound-volume imaging, film and transparency capture, flatbed scanning and oversize material imaging. This equipment allows the DIL to select appropriate capture methods based on the size, format, condition and preservation needs for each item or collection.

The Digital Imaging Lab follows nationally and internationally recognized standards and best practices for cultural heritage imaging, including the work of the International Organization for Standardization, ISO 19264 and the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Culture Heritage Materials, Third Edition (2023). Using these standards, workflows and conformance practices, the DIL maintains FADGI-compliant imaging practices.

A FADGI-compliant digitization program is built on four key components: technical guidelines and imaging parameters, best practices, digital imaging conformance evaluations and professional staff. These components guide the lab’s approach to image capture, quality control, documentation and the long-term stewardship of digital files.

The lab's expertise includes the safe handling and imaging of rare, fragile and oversized materials, and other items that require specialized support during digitization. The DIL follows preservation practices that support long-term access and file integrity. This includes adding metadata to image files, documenting any special processing, conducting quality control and validation, creating fixity digests and maintaining digitization specifications.

In keeping with the FADGI Code of Ethics, the DIL emphasizes accuracy, integrity and fidelity to the historic record. Digital images are created as faithful reproductions of the original materials at the time of capture, without enhancements that would alter or misrepresent the appearance of the source item.

Digital imaging conformance is evaluated through a range of technical image parameters, including sampling frequency, tone response, white balance error, lightness uniformity, color accuracy, color channel misregistration, sampling efficiency, spatial frequency response, reproduction scale accuracy, sharpening, noise, skew and rotation and field artifacts. These measurements help ensure that digital images accurately represent the original materials and meet established preservation-quality imaging guidelines.