Special Collections Research Center

University Archives Photograph Collection

Preparation of Photographs for Digitization

Bird's-eye view of campus looking east with 1911 Building in the foreground and Winston Hall on the left, 1910.

Photographs selected from the University Archives require some preparation before scanning. Images are cleaned, if necessary, and generally placed in transparent, chemically stable enclosures to provide physical support and protection from handling. Other steps taken at this time, while not necessary for scanning, help to ensure the long-term preservation of the photographs. Then the images are scanned in the NCSU Libraries Digital Media Lab, added to Luna Insight® database, and cataloged. Library staff contributing to this project have been from the following departments: the Digital Media Lab, Special Collections, Metadata and Cataloging, the Design Library, Information Technology, and Digital Library Initiatives. The digital images page links to online access to these images.

Staff are finding that identifying information is lacking for many of the photographs. Selections of unidentified images are posted on the NCSU Libraries web site, and the NC State community is asked for help in describing them. Making the library's "shoebox" more accessible is a massive undertaking, but the end result will benefit students, faculty, alumni, and scholars.