services

IMAGING

Digitization

Expert Consultation – Define and Shape Your Digitization Project
NEDCC’s Imaging Services professionals are experts in reformatting and preserving historic and artistic materials through digital imaging.  They are available for consultation on all aspects of your digitization project—from selecting items for digitization to creating sustainable digital files—and can offer guidance when preparing funding proposals.

NEDCC specializes in digitizing two-dimensional materials, such as:

Wall maps Atlases Architectural plans Vintage photographs, e.g.   - Albumen prints - Cyanotypes - Daguerreotypes - Tintypes Lantern slides Glass plate negatives Film transparencies and negatives

Manuscripts Fragile / rare books Illustrations in bound volumes Engravings Broadsides Works of art on paper and canvas Posters Scrapbooks Newspapers Prints Textiles (e.g., samplers, quilts) X-ray film

Comprehensive Services – Fully-Equipped Studios
Thanks to generous grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and other funders, NEDCC offers high-quality digital reformatting of historic and artistic materials. A wide range of specialized equipment and customized imaging platforms are employed to digitize any size or type of two-dimensional object to any specification. We are staffed to handle both small- and large-scale projects.

Careful Handling – Collaboration with In-House Conservators
NEDCC’s photographers are highly skilled in the careful handling of rare and fragile collections. If materials in your collection present challenging conservation issues, the Center’s professional book and paper conservators work closely with its photographers to ensure their safest handling and care. To minimize risk to your materials, the Center does not use flatbed scanners or continuous lighting. With the exception of a specialized X-ray scanner, all image capture is achieved through flash photography, which significantly reduces heat and light duration, and is precisely controlled to accurately reproduce colors and eliminate glare.

Photo courtesy of Hicks Nurseries

Centralized Services – Security and Convenience Conservation treatment and digital reformatting of original materials are performed at the same location, minimizing the risks of transporting fragile objects from vendor to vendor. NEDCC’s state-of-the-art facility employs sophisticated security and climate controls, ensuring the safety of your materials while they are in our care.

Preservation – Stewardship of Digital Collections
NEDCC is a national leader in digital preservation training and can offer advice on creating sustainable digital collections, including digital archiving, metadata, access, and Web use. The Center is a trusted source of information on the preservation of historic and artistic paper-based materials and is alert to evolving digitization standards and practices.                       

NEDCC distinguishes itself by meeting exacting museum and archival standards:

• Flash photography is used to improve color reproduction and to avoid the duration and heat exposure of continuous lighting that can be harmful to collections.
• Customized software controls lighting and ensures even illumination over the entire object, eliminating “hot spots” (i.e., glare).
• Specialized lenses for photographing two-dimensional objects are used to create distortion-free images, which is particularly important when reproducing 1:1 scale images of maps and architectural drawings.
• Customized equipment configurations allow most oversize objects to be digitized on a horizontal surface, reducing the risks posed by hanging delicate objects.
• Images are captured in RAW files, and complex, scientific targeting is used to create linearity, standardization, and consistency in matching the digital image with the original object. RAW files are then converted to any file format desired.
• In consultation with the client, standards and protocols for digital preservation are built into the digital files, ensuring their long-term sustainability.
• All intellectual property rights to the digital images are signed over to the client so that the client retains full control over its assets—NEDCC reserves no rights.
• Facsimile prints are created using archival pigmented inks on acid- and lignin-free papers with no optical brighteners, ensuring long-lasting results.
• Facsimile prints of oversize materials can be encapsulated in polyester film to protect them from frequent handling by researchers.

Photo courtesy of the White Mountain National Forest

Where to begin? Let us help you.
Costs for digitization services vary according to the type, size, and quantity of material to be reformatted; its fragility or difficulty in handling; its physical condition; and the desired technical specifications (i.e., resolution, file format, file-naming protocols, metadata, etc.).

• If your project is small, please call us to discuss these variables so that we may provide you with an estimate. 
• If your project is large or complex, please complete this online questionnaire to gather information about your materials in advance of our conversation. We will promptly review it and call you call to discuss your project. Alternatively, an NEDCC staff member can visit your institution to examine your collection and provide a written estimate. Extra charges may apply.

For information about NEDCC’s Digitization Services, please contact:
David Mathews, Director of Imaging Services, (978) 470-1010 ext. 214, .