New Tech meets Old Tablet
Today I was able to sit down with one of my favourite artifacts in the UVic Libraries Special Collections: a cuneiform tablet that is roughly 4000 years old. Compare 600dpi photos to the 0.3mm 3D scan of the object.
Author: Page DeWolfe
Run Through – Defeated by a Sword
I was tasked with scanning a ceremonial naval sword. It’s a beautiful piece — but in the end, I could not create a full 3D object. While I was prepared to continue tinkering, ultimately it was decided to stop fighting; I had been run through, defeated by a sword.
Run in With The Law
Apologies for the clickbait title but I wanted your attention to turn to this wonderful resource we’ve been able to add to the Libraries digital collection with the help of the Victoria Police Historical Society. The Victoria Police Department Charge Books collection includes several charge books, a complaint book, and three mugshot books from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Additions and Alterations
After some discussion, the decision was made to transition this from a personal blog to a departmental blog for the UVic Libraries Digitization Centre. This means more voices will be added, and more content in coming weeks, which means you get more behind-the scenes details of the type of materials we are working with, the equipment we use, and the challenges we face.
Capturing Colour
One of the more challenging parts of image capture can be getting something that looks like a faithful representation of the original. Many things can impact the actual capture and the perception of the finished item including lighting, software settings, and the settings and calibration of the monitor on which the object is viewed. Some of these are more easily controlled than others.
Hands-on Bookmaking
A slight detour from what happens in my job, I wanted to highlight a workshop that was organized and hosted recently by UVic Special Collections: An Introduction to Bookbinding with Joan Byers (Canadian Bookbinding and Book Arts Guild), a “two hour talk and workshop on the physical aspects of books,” plus the opportunity to try our hand at making two pamphlets.
Raw Materials for Research
Sometimes I am tempted to keep adding more and more layers to the digital collections we provide but I have to remind myself that it is not the role of the library to work with the raw materials, only to provide access to them.
The Mysteries of Maps
I am neither a map cataloger (one of several specialized areas within cataloging) nor a geographer, but one of the perks of my job is the opportunity to work with a huge variety of material, including maps, both historical and contemporary. Recently I have been able to help contribute to these projects through adding metadata (descriptive information) to the images.
Glitches and Imperfections
When we are scanning, things generally go pretty smoothly but once in a while, they don’t. Whether the imperfections are part of the object in-hand or are introduced by human or equipment error, the results can still be interesting.
Description versus Translation
While the majority of the material we digitize is in English, a significant number of items are not. The language used makes no difference in the image capturing and editing stages but it may require different decisions to direct the rest of the process. A translation can offer much greater access to a resource, it may also mean coordinating with scholars or language experts outside the library.