Volume 30, Issue 2

In this paper, I consider three issues: whether conversion to digital form is a preservation action, the contrasts between selection for digital conversion and selection for traditional preservation, and the potential effects on the field of preservation. All of these issues are under active debate by, among others, Atkinson (1998), Conway (1996b), Hazen et al. (1998), and Smith (1999). While consensus is growing, many points remain unsettled.

In recent years, digital imaging in many institutions mutated from being a highly sophisticated art into something resembling a production line. With customers expecting more and more material available online it was necessary to start digitizing large number of items in the shortest possible time. To achieve this without compromising standards, we have to automate certain routine tasks as much as possible.

A relatively new product for microform image capture is the DatagraphiX ImageMouse Digital Retrieval System, developed by Anacomp, Inc. ImageMouse (IM) is a compact device that takes up little more desk space than a standard 3-ring binder and enables a user to digitize, display and print a microfiche image using an existing standard computer workstation.

‘The Empire That Was Russia: The Produkin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated’ features color photographic images of pre-revolutionary Russia made by Sergei Mikhailovich Produkin-Gorskii (1863–1944). The exhibit presents over 50 images in four categories: architecture, ethnic diversity, transportation, and people at work. Additional images are found in the introduction describing Produkin-Gorskii's life and work and in the fascinating section on the creation of the digital images. There is also a chronology listing key dates for Produkin-Gorskii within the context of relevant political and cultural events in Russian and world history.