Description of the Optical Disk Pilot Program of the Library of Congress defines characteristics and differences between analog videodisks and optical digital disk technology. Benefits of the optical digital disk, material selection, and the system configuration (bibliographic indexing, document preparation and input scanning, image and record…

Summarizes the elements of the Cornell-Yale digitization model and shows how Michigan State University (MSU) has expanded the model, focusing on a project to digitize the American Radicalism Collection of the MSU Libraries. Issues of selection, quality, integrity, longevity, and access are discussed. Sidebars present MSU digitizing procedures,…

Describes projects launched in the 1990s (at Duke University and the University of Michigan, for example) that are attempting to digitize images of ancient papyrus collections and to provide indexed electronic access to them. The five largest American projects of this kind have formed a consortium which addresses issues of policy and user…

Describes a systematic, disciplinary approach to setting preservation priorities at Cornell University's (New York) Mann Library. Topics covered include guiding principles; development of a national preservation plan for agricultural literature; selecting for preservation in agriculture and biology; and digital technology and preservation. A…