Renee (and all),
 
At about the time we installed TMS our photo studio made
the change from film to all digital image capture with
high-end digital cameras and a variety of scanners for film,
slide, med. format transparency, etc.  And this is what we
have done:
 
The original digital files created by the camera (.HDR
files, Mac) are burned onto a CD and then the CD is given
what I call a volume number.  Each CD is numbered 5000,
5001, 5002 and so on.
 
Then the HDR files are post-produced into a high resolution
.TIF file and are burned onto the same CD with the volume
number and sequential number as the image file name.  For
example, CD# 5000 would contain the images 5000_01.tif thru
5000_12.tif.  NB:  We had considered giving the image file a
filename that was more like the object's number, but found
that this would be a problem when, as it often happens in
our collections, we were faced with objects which have
components or multiple views and details. Our system of
assigning a CD volume root and _01, _02, _03 image filename
allowed to have a unique filename for each image.
 
Then a contact sheet liner insert for the CD case is
created that has a small thumbnail of the image with its
image file name and the object's accession number(s).  At
this point, no metadata table is created that links the
filename to the object number.  That occurs at the time the
images are loaded into TMS.
 
The photo department's assistant then loads all of the
images onto the TMS server, creates the Media Object in the
Media module, and links the image to object record.  Once
the CD has been transferred to the media module and linked
to the object record, the CD is sent to our Rights and
Reproductions Coordinator who keeps all the CD's as part of
her photographic holdings.  More and more our photo requests
have been for high res digital files and we distribute these
to requesters on a CD we burn ourselves or deliver via our
login and password protected FTP site.  Increasingly, we
have in-house requests from our exhibitions and publications
designers who want high-res images for their design work.
Since you can't "download" an image from TMS, we have found
that eMuseum is a great way to give our designers access to
high-res files.
 
Checks for accuracy (correct object number, correct image
file name, image orientation, etc.) are conducted throughout
this process and the final check is made at the time the
image is linked to an object record.
 
Dave
 
David Pearce
Assistant Registrar for Collections Information (Data Base
Administrator)
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution
(202) 357-4880 ext 228
(202) 633-9770 fax
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>>> [log in to unmask] 07/18/02 03:05PM >>>
Hello Everyone,
 
I am interested to learn how institutions handle naming
there media files
and the preservation of the media files.  We have been
discussing
establishing a file naming protocol for all media (digital,
scans, slides,
b&w, audio, etc.) and our scans and digital files would be
burned onto CDs.
Additionally, how do people access / use these media files
in your
institution?
 
Renee Bomgardner
Registrar
Barnes Foundation
300 N. Latch's Lane
Merion, PA 19066
610-667-0290 ext.1045
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