Help! I need the expertise of the computer geeks ASAP. I have a wonderful problem to solve. A private foundation which dedicates part of its resources to serving the county where my museum is located has given us funds in the past. Yesterday the foundation head called and asked if we had a project in mind for funds this year because she wants to give us some funds. (Incredible. This is one of those foundations with "give only to pre-designated groups, and we are now one!) We have 5,000+ glass negatives from a studio here a century ago. To date I have gotten about 800-900 printed in a darkroom as contact prints. The negatives are 8X10, 5X7, and 4X3. We have discussed creating a stand-alone computer station which would be networked with the current computers (2 IBM clones) and scan in the images in the collections. (We also have a few hundred prints.) We would want the program to be read only to the museum visitor, and run a cable to the gift shop where a laser printer could print images on acid free paper of images the visitor wanted. (Do not see any copyright problem since the photographer, his wife, and their sole child have all died, the child without any children. The images were given to a local historian by the wife about 1960, no paperwork. The local historians child gave the images to the museum and we have the paper work.) The computer guy at Office Depot says we may want a scanner which he has seen advertised in magazines but which he does not carry. He feels that without a separate light source we would not get good images from the 8X10s or the 5X7s. What do "real" museums use? Ones which have thousands of images. Am I restrict to printing in the darkroom, or is there a scanner which can allow me to scan the photos directly into the computer. I am planing to ask for a HP network laser printer, a computer station with Windows XP, up-grade for the two Windows 98 computers to network status, calculate a cost for running printer cable to the network printer, Past Perfect software, perhaps PhotoShop, and what else. The lady wants me to fax her maximum and minimum budgets on Monday. Of course she does not expect me to know final budget figures, but the guy at office depot said he would not have the professional level Windows we would want. He thought we would have to get that from someone like Dell or HP or Gateway installed by them. Do I want to contact the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and or Dell computers as well? I understand that a scanner which can copy print photos is not a problem and that any Office Depot has would work for that. It is a light source for the negatives that creates the problem. Any clues? Should I contact Eastman House or Amon Carter? Thanks in advance for you assistance. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).