Category Archives: Digitization

How to Shoot an American Quilt

When Digital Services was asked to provide images for an upcoming book on longtime donor Wade Hall’s amazing array of archival collections, most of the requests were fairly standard: book covers, documents, and photos. Even the occasional 8-Track box or daguerreotype wasn’t all … Continue reading

Fleeting Sounds

Usually when we think of ephemera — items that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles [source] — we think of documents. Paper is the medium of choice for these transitory items, from ticket … Continue reading

African-American Soldier Portraits

Right now, in the Pearce Foyer of Gorgas Library (2nd floor, Quad side), you’ll find a pretty cool exhibit: Highlighting the collections of Rev. Wylheme Ragland of Decatur, Alabama,  A North Alabama Clergyman’s Passion for History: Preserving Black History through Words and … Continue reading

3D Digitization Project: testing phase (continued)

Last week, we told you about a test of our Digitization Manager’s relief digitization process, under development thanks to a UA Libraries’ Innovation Grant. The project: a process to capture relief data using (1) a regular mounted digital camera setup, (2) a piece of … Continue reading

3D Digitization Project: testing phase

Our Digitization Manager, Jeremiah, has been working on a pretty exciting project, and we thought we’d share some pictures from the testing phase. Late last year, we got a grant from UA Libraries to develop a digitizing process for relief objects, including an inexpensive … Continue reading

Interested in digitization?

We’re looking for a new Digitization Technologist.  Are you looking for an interesting, challenging position where you’ll learn about digitization of images, text, and audio?  Where you’ll expand your developing scripting skills, learn XML (if you don’t already know it) … Continue reading

More adventures in 3D printing

We wanted to share an update on our ongoing 3D printing adventures. Good news Here’s the smaller part I mentioned before, the one that came out perfectly using PLA at 15% fill on the printer we’ve been working with all … Continue reading

Adventures in 3D printing

Our Digitization Manager, Jeremiah, has been working on a local grant to develop a way to capture relief data from otherwise mostly flat materials like embossed paper, wax seals on envelopes, and the surface of coins. The project is currently … Continue reading

Audio Digitization: a look at the Rohlig process

Audio Digitization is a completely different type of mole hill than Image Digitization. There are different concerns, such as playback speeds, distortion, clipping, etc. There are also different types of technical metadata needed, such as track begin and end times. … Continue reading

When patterns attack

Up until about a month ago, I’d never heard the term moiré pattern, but I’d definitely seen them in action. You probably have, too. It might’ve looked something like this… …or maybe this… A moiré pattern, which may appear as … Continue reading