Guidance

RCHS Media Archive – Guidance for Volunteers

Introduction
This note is for the guidance of volunteers working on the RCHS Media Archive. It describes how a new Collection of hard-copy media items (images and associated data) received from a donor is ingested, digitised, and uploaded to the Online Media Archive. Where the Society already holds Collections, whether scanned or not, the guidance may be modified to suit the particular circumstances.
Overall responsibility rests with the Society’s Media Archive Coordinator.

Background
The Archive has three sections: the Physical Archive, the Digital Vault, and the Online Media Archive
The Physical Archive currently comprises about 80,000 media items – photographic prints, negatives, and transparencies (slides) – that have been donated to the Society over the past 40 years or more, and saved in a variety of albums, slide magazines, small boxes and other Containers. They are stored, mainly, under the name of the donor, in over 100 large archive boxes. The quality of the Media Catalogue, that describes individual images within the Archive, is variable.
A significant proportion of the Physical Archive has been scanned, sometimes in tiff format, and sometimes as jpegs. These scans have also been catalogued, but further detailed cataloguing needs to be done for most of the media items, and the whole needs consolidating into a consistent format. The scans and their catalogue data are stored in the Digital Vault, as a permanent record that best represents the Physical Archive in digital form.
The Society has chosen Zenphoto as the application to make the archive available online to members and visitors. Transferring the images in the Digital Vault into the Archive requires some limited photo editing, to improve the image without losing its historical detail, and creating captions comprising Titles, Descriptions, and other information about the media item, to be used as finding aids by the search function. For high resolution scans, it then also requires the edited image to be reduced in resolution and, therefore, file size so it will open quickly in a browser.
The rest of this note describes the discrete stages involved in the overall process, which may be carried out singly or in combination, according to the volunteer’s preferences.

Accepting a Collection into the Physical Archive
When a member no longer wishes, or feels able, to look after his media Collection, the Society is willing to consider adding it to the Archive. The decision will be taken by a group of relevant members, based upon the historical significance of the Collection, and how well it is organised. Generally, it is expected that the donor will have rationalised and catalogued his Collection prior to offering it to the Society.
The Society does not have research premises, so cannot accept non-media items (other than those describing the images), and these are better placed in a publicly-accessible archive where researchers can view them. The Society can, however, offer advice and support in order to find the most appropriate home for the member’s Collection and, by exception, may offer temporary storage.
If a Collection is felt to be suitable for the inclusion in the Media Archive, a Transfer Form will be agreed between the donor and the Society, either to confirm transfer of ownership to the Society (and also copyright insofar as it is vested in the donor), or the granting of a licence to the Society to make and use digital copies of the Collection.
Upon receipt of a Collection, it has first to be Ingested. The Containers that hold the Collection will be placed into suitable, usually archive-quality Boxes, each Box and Container will be numbered and labelled, and an inventory will be made describing, in broad outline, the Collection as a whole, and the contents of each Container (but not individual media items within a Container) using the Inventory Form. .
If any group of media items is in a Container that is inappropriate for long-term and efficient storage, the items may be transferred to new Containers that will better protect the items whilst retaining the integrity of the Collection and any useful data associated with it.

Non-Physical Collections
Increasingly, it is probable that Collections of digital photographs will be offered to the Media Archive but. because digital photographs are taken in far greater volumes than was the case with traditional photography, the Society will be reluctant to accept digital Collections that have not been rationalised and catalogued prior to being offered to the Society, as we are unlikely to have the resources to review and sort the vast numbers of images otherwise involved. Where accepted, such Collections will be Ingested directly into the Digital Vault.
Occasionally the Society is offered Collections of scanned images without the physical original which may have deteriorated beyond use, been destroyed, or placed in another archive. The copyright implications of this must be carefully considered alongside the other acceptance criteria but, again, suitable Collections will be Ingested directly into the Digital Vault.

Cataloguing & Captioning The Media Items
Note: A short video describes the offline processes necessary to record the catalogue and caption information for each image, and to create digital copies of the hard-copy originals.
At the time a media item is scanned, it is allocated a unique six-digit RCHS Media Archive identification number (its "RMA ID", e.g. 123456), and this will apply to the physical image, its scan in the Digital Vault, the edited image (identified by a "P" suffix added to its RMA ID), and the reduced-resolution image that is uploaded to the Online Archive (identified by an “E” suffix).
The RMA ID should preferably be written on the media item using a soft pencil (e.g. on the back of the photo or on the cardboard transparency mount), or using a fine point, permanent marker pen to write on plastic transparency mounts or the unused edging of negatives. Where negatives are in a strip, it is sufficient to number the first and last image. Where none of this is possible, the media item should be stored in a sleeve and the reference number written on that.
Each Collection is allocated a range of RMA ID numbers, and the volunteer should apply these sequentially as each media item is processed.
At the time of scanning, all relevant data should be recorded for each physical image using the Media Catalogue spreadsheet. This is structured to facilitate transfer of these data into the Online Archive, and includes:
  • The RMA ID (which will be formatted by the spreadsheet with a comma thousands separator;
  • The Reference given to the image by the donor, if any;
  • The RMA ID of any associated image, where known (e.g. for the print of a negative);
  • The Container Number;
  • The Box Number;
  • The Collection Name;
  • The physical format of the media item (e.g. 35mm colour slide);
  • The overall physical condition of the media item (Good, Fair, Poor), based upon whether it has faded, been scratched, been torn, the surface is sticky, or it has delaminated; Good images may require minor adjustments, for example, to brightness or straightening, and similarly for Fair images that may also exhibit minor surface scratches that are not worth editing. Images in Poor condition will have significant scratches or other damage, needing physical and/or Photoshop-type repair, as long as this dies not compromise the historical integrity of the image.
  • A verbatim transcription of all text written on or adjacent to the media item, including the photographer’s description and reference number, processor’s date and number stamp, etc. Lengthy captions on commercial prints (e.g. picture postcards) may be summarised. [Any comments or queries by the volunteer should also be written here, in square brackets];
  • The Title of the image, to be displayed online, and as considered appropriate by the volunteer. Wherever possible, this should include the location and milepost mileage (including the Engineers Line Reference - ELR - for railway subjects), a few words about the content of the image, and an approximate date. Usually, this should not exceed about 100 characters;
  • The Description of the image, to be displayed online, and as considered appropriate by the volunteer. This should be reasonably comprehensive, and include anything factual in the image that may aid subsequent identification (e.g. building with “GWR” written on one wall; horses outside stable next to canal), or suggests that the copyright might be owned by someone else (e.g. appears to be a photo of a page in a book).
It is important to remember that the Archive's Search function relies upon the Title and Description information. If the search term isn't in them, the search engine can't find the image.
Abbreviations can be used as search terms, but the search engine will only return exact matches, so a search for "LBSCR" won't find "LB&SCR". A set of standard abbreviations has been developed, and is available to volunteers as a separate document.
Also, the Title and Description should consider the possibility of the image being moved in the future, most probably into a new sub-album, so they should both be reasonably self-contained.
If all of this data is carefully recorded, it should not be necessary to handle the physical image again after scanning.

Scanning
Before carrying out any scanning, the media item should be examined and any dust removed using an air brush. Care should be taken to avoid touching the image itself, to avoid contaminating it with fingerprints (wearing thin white cotton or latex gloves is advised), and to reduce other physical damage.
Scanning may be done in tiff format, or jpeg format providing the quality is adjusted to the highest setting (lowest compression).
24-bit colour scanning should be used for colour prints, negatives and slides, and for black and white images where the quality has degraded. Otherwise, greyscale scanning can be used for black and white images. if the volunteer’s equipment permits, 48-bit scanning should be used for colour negatives and transparencies.
Although the quality of the physical image may render it unsuitable for publishing in books and magazines at a large size, the objective of scanning is to create a digital copy that captures all of the available detail in the physical image that would display on an A4 printed page (approximately 11” by 7” allowing for margins), after allowing for some possible cropping to remove unwanted background or bring out particular detail. Also, high quality printing requires a resolution of 300 pixels per inch, at the very least. Consequently, scanning at a resolution of 4,000 - 5,000 pixels across the longest dimension of the image is recommended. For example:
  • for a 35mm or 16mm negative or transparency, the resolution should be about 3600 ppi;
  • for a large format negative or lantern slide, the resolution should be about 1800 ppi;
  • for a 6” x 4” print, the resolution should be about 800 ppi;
  • and similarly for other formats. If in doubt, seek advice from the Media Archive Coordinator.
Software that permits pre-scan editing, such as Silverfast or VueScan, may be used but care should be taken not to degrade the detail available in the physical image when removing scratches or performing colour restoration prior to scanning.
It is preferable to include the text written on or adjacent to the media item in the metadata of the scanned image, in addition to including it in the spreadsheet. This ensures that the media item and its original data are permanently attached.

Uploading to the Digital Vault
At this stage, the scanned image(s) should be added to the digital vault in the "Vault 1" folder, by sending blocks of image files to the Media Archive Coordinator using Dropbox, WeTransfer, or similar, together with the associated Media Item Catalogue.
The six-digit RMA ID (without a suffix) is always used for the highest resolution / largest file size copy, which is assumed to be the original scan. Particularly with tiff files, sometimes a second, reduced-size tiff copy has been made in the past, and these have a "T" suffix appended.
Occasionally a new scan needs to be made from the hard-copy original because of quality issues, and notably where the existing scan is at an unacceptably low resolution. The new scan will be given a "R" suffix, and added to Vault 1.

Editing Scanned Images
Images to be edited will be sent to the volunteer from the Vault, if they are not already on the volunteer’s computer.
The images can be edited using a suitable program such as Photoshop, GIMP, or a simple and free program such as Picasa (“retired” by Google but still available to download, and straightforward to learn). Edits that should be made include straightening, cropping of unwanted margins and excessive sky (a problem with square-format images), adjusting brightness and contrast, and limited sharpening. Scratches and blemished may also be removed, but care should be taken throughout not to over-edit and thus compromise the historical content of the original physical image. If the volunteer has the relevant software and skill, colour restoration may also be carried out. The edited image should now be saved with a new filename, which is the original filename with a "P" suffix added (e.g. 123456P).
Occasionally, a scanned image may be discovered to be back to front (flipped), in which case a further edit may be performed to correct the supposed error, and a "F" suffix appended (e.g. 123456PF).
These edited images should also be sent, in batches, to the Media Archive Coordinator and will be added to the digital vault in the "Vault 2" folder.
The Online Archive will accept images only in jpeg format so tiff images must be converted to low compression jpegs, using Microsoft Paint (part of Windows), Picasa, or similar. The jpeg files will be considerably smaller than their parent tiffs, but may still be overly large for rapid opening by visitors to the Online Archive. Therefore, the pixel size should be reduced to 3,000 pixels width (5,000 for panoramic images such as Line Plans), and this should reduce the file size to less than 5MB, and usually less than 2MB. The converted image should now be saved with a new filename which is the original filename with a "E" suffix (e.g. 123456E or 123456EF). It is this version that is uploaded to the Online Archive.
Copies of these "E" images should also be sent to the Media Archive Coordinator for addition to the digital vault in the Vault 3 folder..

Adding the Image to the Online Archive
Note: Two further videos explain how to upload images into the Online Archive, and how to organise its album structure.
Volunteers wishing to add images will be given appropriate User Rights to access the Online Archive Admin area.
Adding an image comprises uploading the image into the most appropriate Album, putting the images into the correct order, and transferring the relevant data from the Media Catalogue spreadsheet.
The Online Archive has already been configured to provide Albums similar to the folders in Windows Explorer, but not all of the albums have yet been created, and new ones can be added where appropriate. If in doubt, the volunteer should agree the most suitable Album with the Media Archive Coordinator prior to uploading a group of images.
Images are added using the “Upload” tab, and may be uploaded into the selected Album singly or in groups. As the number of images in an Album grows, it may be necessary to split it into two or more, to avoid having too many images in a single album, but this is fairly simple to do.
Once an image has been uploaded, a screen will appear in which to insert the relevant data. The "Edit all image data" link at the bottom of the media item data should be pressed, and the screen will refresh to display additional fields (most of which can be ignored) for a single image. The Title and Description can now be copied from the spreadsheet, and the “Text Written On or Adjacent to the image” data copied into the Custom Data Dialogue Box, if it has not already been copied there from the metadata. The volunteer should also tick the relevant Tags for Collection, Condition, and Format.
Very importantly, a judgment should now be made regarding the copyright status of the image, for which a separate guidance note has been prepared to assist volunteers. If copyright in the image (or a licence to use it) can be reasonably assumed to be owned by the Society, or the image is out of copyright, it can be Published by ticking the box (top right in the screen). Otherwise this box should be unticked, which means that the image is held in the Online Archive, but is not visible to a visitor to the site. The status can be amended at any later date, and either way, as new information is received. The reasons for not Publishing an image should be recorded in [square brackets] in the verbatim transcription cell in the spreadsheet. The Apply button should now be pressed to save the changes
The Image Order button should then be selected, and this will bring up a screen displaying thumbnails of all the images in the album, and they can be dragged into their correct positions. For infrastructure, this should be in line of route order. Again, the Apply button should be pressed to save the change.
Important: Before leaving any screen where changes have been made, the Apply button should be pressed to update the Online Archive, otherwise the changes will be lost.

News, Comments and Tags
Note: A further video explains how to work with News, Comments and Tags, and also describes an alternative way to upload images to a particular Album which has been located using the visitor screens.
When a volunteer has added a block of new images, possibly also creating a new album, it may be worthwhile advertising this so visitors can see it. This is done using the News >> New Article tab, and merely requires the creation of a Title and Content for the News item, pressing the Published button, followed by Apply.
Visitors to the site may add their own comments to images, possibly pointing out errors and omissions, and a list of all of these is visible via the Comments tab. Each volunteer is responsible for dealing with the Comments made on the images he has uploaded, and for communicating constructively with the visitor concerned. Once the dialogue is concluded, and the Title and Description of the image suitably amended (if appropriate), the Comment(s) should be marked as SPAM (meaning Unpublished) using the leftmost button next to the comment.
Only three types of Tags are used by the Online Archive: Collection, Condition, and Format, and these are managed using the Tags tab. It is unlikely that a volunteer will need to make any changes to the Tags but, if one is felt necessary, it would be best to discuss this with the Media Archive Coordinator.

In Conclusion
If followed carefully, each stage of the process is relatively simple, although there is clearly a learning curve. Volunteers may proceed at their own pace, and undertake as many stages as they wish.
Support and advice is always available from the Media Archive Coordinator, and individual training via Zoom can be arranged when requested (and sometimes when not!).
I am confident that our team of volunteers will be able to make positive progress, and that a great asset to the Society is being created through their efforts.