National Library of Australia


Digitisation of the Mortlock Pictorial collection

Project participants: State Library of South Australia
Contact officer/s: Peter Jenkins, Manager Digital Library Group (Jenkins.Peter@slsa.sa.gov.au, phone 08 8207 7315 or fax 08 8207 7351)
Project description: 54,000 images originally stored on videodisk in analog form have been digitised and stored as JPEG files on CD-ROM disks. Images resized and transferred to web server. Accompanying database records converted to MARC format and uploaded to library's catalog. Viewable through web browser interface to catalogue. STAGE 2 of the project adds a further 8,691 images to the 54,556 images originally converted from videodisk.
URL of site: http://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au:84/screens/opacmenu.html
URL for project information:
Content: 54,000 photographic images originally stored on videodisk in analog form have been digitised and stored as JPEG files on CD-ROM disks. The Mortlock Pictorial Collection contains photographs and atrworks documenting South Australian life.
Digitisation policy and priorities: http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/library/2020.htm
Timetable: STAGE 1 completed (19 June 1996 - 29 May 1998)
STAGE 2 completed (21 October - 6 September 2000)
Budget and funding: $111,000 from bequest fund.
Staff resources: Scanning and image optimisation by Bridgehead Australia Pty Ltd; project management, production of web surrogates and indexing by SLSA staff.
Technical standards: Master digital images: Kodak PhotoCD imagepack and 300 ppi, 256-level greyscale uncompressed TIFF. Image capture: Kodak PIW. Image optimisation, web surrogate production, record updating: Apple Power Macintosh G4/Equilibrium DeBabelizer and Apple HyperCard.
Cataloguing and indexing: Indexed on DEC Alpha 300/Innovative Interfaces Inc Innopac. Conversion of the existing machine-readable caption data to MARC records to be stored on one of the Library's OPAC databases. ). Digital objects linked to the library catalog through MARC field 856 which the OPAC web browser interface uses to access images in one of the Library's servers.
Comments: Resolving copyright issues has been an unexpected major component of this project.

Project managers wishing to update the details of their Australian digitisation projects, should email the changes to alg@nla.gov.au.

Last modified: August 09 2004.