Updated guidelines from US Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative

From Susan Manus, Library of Congress

The Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) has now released an update and redesign of the website, available at: http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/. In addition to improved navigation throughout, it is now easier to access the major document outlining best practices, the “Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage materials” (http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/guidelines/digitize-technical.html). There are currently 15 federal agencies actively involved in this initiative, the most recent to join was the National Park Service. Other interested agencies are welcome to contact us for information on participating in the initiative.

FADGI is divided into two working groups, “Still Image” and “Audio Visual”, with documentation, presentations, and publications relevant to each. In addition, there is a comprehensive glossary of over 200 digitization-related terms available on the site (http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/glossary.php)

Since the site’s launching in 2007, there have been several sub-groups formed to focus on key areas such as metadata issues, archival color, recorded sound and moving image. The site will be updated on a regular basis to reflect new documents and activity.