Workshop Catalog

Presenter: Bonita Weddle, Coordinator of Electronic Records, New York State Archives This webinar focuses on simple, practical first steps small repositories can take toward digital preservation and points you to a wide array of helpful resources.

Although imaging systems can store and quickly retrieve a large volume of documents, they can rarely be justified on that basis alone. To make optimal use of this technology, state agencies and local governments must understand standards and best practices for scanning records and maintaining them in these systems.

This workshop will cover:

• Current imaging and scanning practices
• What you need to know to prepare for a scanning project
• How to incorporate Records Management principles into scanning your records
• Strategies and best practices for conducting your own scanning project 

Along with the growing numbers of electronic records being created in government today comes the growing need to provide appropriate data storage. This non-technical workshop is intended to provide records managers with a basic overview of common ways electronic data is stored and an understanding of how it fits in with records management.

This workshop will cover:

• Terms and strategies commonly used
• How electronic data storage fits in with records management
• How to determine your data storage needs

Many people believe that an electronic content management system (ECM) is merely an electronic document imaging system, but it is actually a software system that allows for the creation, indexing, management, and retrieval of documents in various formats (including image files) through a single interface.

After a brief introduction to electronic documents, the bulk of this workshop will address:

• Types of technologies and strategies required for their management
• How governments can determine whether or not they need an ECM
• How to plan for, implement, and maintain an ECM

Photographic materials in all their variety are among the most difficult records to manage and make accessible. With the dawn of new digital technologies, you are now able to share your historical photographs with a wider audience and save wear and tear on the originals. Digitizing your photographic collections opens the door to creative and interesting applications never before dreamed possible. Consider the blossoming world of blogging, websites, e-publications, social media, and so forth as natural venues to share your visual historic treasures. But there are many issues to consider as one prepares for such an endeavor. This webinar will introduce the basic principles of scanning historical photographs.

This webinar focuses on

• What photographic materials you can scan and how
• Selecting a scanner and software to use and how to get the best possible image from them
• How to plan for and carry out a successful photographic imaging project step by step
• State Archives technical standards for file format, image resolution, bit depth, and compression
• Creation of metadata and descriptive information for images
• Options to increase access to your digital images

Presenter: Tamara Talansky, Preservation and Imaging Coordinator, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts
This webinar provides a basic overview of some of the considerations institutions should make when digitizing materials, including prioritization and selection criteria, handling practices while scanning or photographing, and storage concerns for digital media.

Presenter: Maggie Downing, Manager of Digital Imaging, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. This webinar will focus on the basics of managing digital collections and will address born-digital material as well as items that have been converted to digital format. Maggie Downing, Manager of Digital Imaging at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, will discuss scalable strategies that can be implemented by institutions of all sizes.

Verifying that each page of each document was scanned and a true legible copy of the original is the most important step in any imaging project, but the one that is most often ignored. This webinar will explain why this step is so critical to any successful imaging project and review each step in the process of quality control and verification.

Scanning (digitizing) your historical photographs is the perfect way to increase use, share and preserve these visual treasures. But there is a lot to consider in terms of scanners, software, file formats, image resolution, bit depth, compression, preservation . . . the list goes on and on. Anyone can create a digital image from a photograph, but in this workshop, we will unveil the secrets to creating the highest possible quality scans of your photos. We will provide everything you need to know to take your scans from blase to brilliant in a very practical, informal presentation. Come and have some fun learning the true art of scanning. Whether you are a newbie or have serious experience scanning, this workshop will open your eyes to new techniques that will dramatically improve your digital results.