The Technology resource papers provide information to help guide you as you consider the technical problems involved in converting existing collection materials to digital formats. Over time additional resource papers may be added to the list.

The papers are intended to provide a basic introduction to the technical issues in digitization and to offer suggestions for planning your digitization project.

The papers focus on issues to consider such as how to select tools and learn techniques for scanning, quality control/standards, file format/size/naming, file storage, and delivery of scanned objects via the web.

Among the issues are:

• Should you scan in-house, or contract for scanning services?
• Which standards and quality control methods to use?
• What image resolutions levels to use?
• How to store digital objects, and what databases, file format/naming conventions to use?

The four papers cover these topics:
1. Hardware and Software Requirements
2. Choosing a delivery method for digital collections
3. Scanning Process
4. Image Quality

The resource papers have been compiled by the staff of the Digital Images Initiative, Washington State Library.