The following image capture standards are used by the National Library in digitisation of its collection material. All digital master images are saved as uncompressed TIFF files. Low resolution JPEG files are made available for access and can be downloaded online.
| Material type | Standard | Specifications |
|
Bound Volumes: Rare and Special Materials Illuminated manuscripts, works that feature illustrations of special artistic or graphic interest |
FADGI 4 Rare and special material, including colour critical material should be digitised using photography equipment capable of achieving a highly accurate image |
400 ppi resolution |
|
Bound Volumes: General Collections Textual and illustrated bound books, journals with clearly legible type and visual-arts elements of limited significance |
FADGI 3 General collection material should be digitised to a preservation standard but, limited visual-arts elements mean this material does not need to be captured at level 4 |
300 ppi resolution 8 or 16 bit depth RGB colour space Colour or grayscale |
|
Documents (Unbound): Manuscripts and Other Rare and Special Materials Rare and special materials represent manuscripts, illustrations of special artistic or graphic interest Note: In the Library context manuscripts (such as the papers of prominent Australians) will be considered ‘Documents (Unbound): General Collections’ except for components of special artistic or graphic interest which will be treated as ‘Documents (Unbound): Manuscripts and Other Rare and Special Materials’. |
FADGI 4 Rare and special material, including colour critical material should be digitised using photography equipment capable of achieving a highly accurate image |
400 ppi resolution |
|
Documents (Unbound): General Collections Textual and illustrated materials e.g., evenly printed typeset or laser printed pages, includes visual-arts elements of limited significance |
FADGI 3 General collection material should be digitised to a preservation standard but, limited visual-arts elements mean this material does not need to be captured at level 4 |
300 ppi resolution 8 or 16 bit depth RGB colour space Colour |
|
Oversize Items: Maps, Posters, and Other Materials Maps, Posters, and Other Materials with Challenging Features |
FADGI 3 This material should be digitised to a preservation standard but, unless it falls into the category of rare and special material, does not need to be captured at level 4 |
300 ppi resolution 8 or 16 bit depth RGB colour space Colour or grayscale |
|
Newspapers - Hardcopy |
FADGI 3 Newspapers should be digitised to a preservation standard but, limited visual-arts elements mean this material does not need to be captured at level 4 |
300 ppi resolution 8 bit depth RGB colour space Colour or grayscale |
|
Prints and Photographs Includes photographic prints, graphic-arts prints (intaglio, lithographs, etc.), drawings, some paintings, (e.g., watercolours), and some maps. |
FADGI 4 Prints and photographs have unique and subtle qualities that should be captured as accurately as possible |
600 ppi resolution 16 bit depth Adobe 1998 colour space Colour |
|
Photographic Transparencies: 35mm to 4”x5” Black-and-white or colour (positive) transparencies that can be captured as a complete image |
FADGI 4 Photographic transparencies should be digitised to the highest standard possible to support future (use such as image enlargement for exhibitions) |
4000 ppi resolution 16 bit depth Grey Gamma 2.2 or Adobe 1998 colour space Colour or grayscale |
|
Photographic Transparencies Larger than 4” x 5” Black-and-white or colour (positive) transparencies that are likely to require post-capture assembly to produce a complete image. |
FADGI 4 Photographic transparencies should be digitised to the highest standard possible to support future use (such as image enlargement for exhibitions) |
2000 ppi resolution 16 bit depth Grey Gamma 2.2 or Adobe 1998 colour space Colour or grayscale |
|
Photographic Negatives: 35mm to 4”x5” Black-and white or colour negatives that can be captured as a complete image. |
FADGI 4 Photographic negatives should be digitised to the highest standard possible to support future use (such as production of photographic prints) |
4000 ppi resolution 16 bit depth Grey Gamma 2.2 or Adobe 1998 colour space Colour or grayscale |
|
Photographic Negatives Larger than 4” x 5” Black-and white or colour negatives that are likely to require post-capture assembly to produce a complete image. |
FADGI 4 Photographic negatives should be digitised to the highest standard possible to support future use (such as production of photographic prints) |
2000 ppi resolution 16 bit depth Grey Gamma 2.2 or Adobe 1998 colour space Colour or grayscale |
|
Paintings and Other Two-Dimensional Art (Other Than Prints) Original art works including oil paintings, water colour |
FADGI 4 Paintings and other works of art have unique and subtle qualities that should be captured as accurately as possible |
12,000 Pixels on long dimension 16 bit depth Adobe 1998 colour space Colour |
|
Printed Matter, Manuscripts, and Other Documents on Microfilm Newspapers on microfilm |
FADGI 3 A preservation copy of newspaper on microfilm is required. Note that FADGI quality level 3 specifications are significantly different for this type of material. High resolution is required to account for reduction scale used when microfilm was created. |
4000 ppi resolution 8 bit depth Gray Gamma 2.2 colour space Grayscale |
NB* The resolution given is based on the optical capabilities of the scanning device, not interpolated resolution.
