I generally save them named by accession number. That is the easiest for of reference, you can then save them in folders using whatever organization you want, by department, type, etc. 

TIFF and jpeg are the most common formats. You will want to save the highest resolution images initially as you can edit them to a lesser quality but cannot improve quality and need a back up (DVD or external hard drive) of the highest for future use (then if say a picture gets corrupted or is badly edited, you can reopen an original and start over). For your database you may want smaller images as large ones can seriously slow your database. You can do this with DVD  back-ups of large images with small ones being organized separately for reference/database use. There is no need to slow the system with printable images if you are only using them as a visual reference, you can always refer back to the high res back-ups for printing. 

If you are unfamiliar with the technology and standards of digital imaging, perhaps you should read up in books or even on the web a bit before setting any standards. You will hear alot of different opinions on best practices, and unless you understand the technology and your individual needs you may make some decisions that come back to haunt you or staff who come around after you. 

Elizabeth Walton

-----Original Message-----
>From: Shannon Lindridge <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Jun 18, 2007 11:22 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Digital images
>
>I am looking for suggestions and examples of how to organize digital images.  
>Our institution over the past few years has accumulated, in no systemactic 
>order, a large number of digital images of objects, photographs, and archival 
>materials.  The files are currently housed on the server, in an assortment of 
>folders.  I would like to remove these images from the server and burn them on 
>to CD's/DVD's with a system set in place to to be able search and determine if 
>a digital image has been made and retrieve it rather easily. I want this system 
>to also help organize future digital images which are created. 
>
>In addition to setting up a system, are digital images saved as Tiff, jpeg, or 
>another file type?  What DPI?  Are several sizes of the image saved or just 
>one?  
>
>We currently PastPerfect 4 and can attach images, and maybe that is the 
>easiest method.  But, I know we are not the only institution who has 
>accumulated digital images, and I'm interested to hear how other institutions 
>have delt with this. 
>
>Thank-you, 
>
>Shannon Lindridge, Collections Manager
>Tha History Center in Tompkins County
>Ithaca, NY 14850
>
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