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 [log in to unmask] >>> [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 [log in to unmask]