NYS scanning grant

Cornell University has received a Coordinated Preservation Grant from
the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of
Library Research Materials to conduct a one year demonstration project
in cooperation with the eleven comprehensive research libraries in New
York State (the "Big 11") to preserve and make accessible deteriorating
library materials through digital technology.  The project will test and
evaluate network access to Cornell's growing digital library. This
project builds on work previously conducted at Cornell and relies on the
spirit of cooperative investigating that characterized an earlier New
York State demonstration project on the use of digital image technology
to preserve archival material.

Cornell will provide the Big 11 libraries with copies of client software
that have been developed at Cornell to enable researchers to access the
digital library using common computer platforms (IBM-compatible,
Macintosh and Unix) rather than high powered workstations.  Network
access will enable participants to view the contents of individual books
as digital images and to generate print requests for volumes located in
the digital library.  During the course of this project, an additional
600 volumes on the history of New York State will be scanned and added
to the digital library.

Participants will formally evaluate digital library access in terms of
the user interface design, on-screen image quality, and performance
characteristics by means of a Cornell-developed questionnaire and
informally via a project participant's list server.

Additional information on the project may be obtained by contacting Anne
R. Kenney, project manager.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 7:21
                  Distributed: Friday, August 20, 1993
                        Message Id: cdl-7-21-005
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