Getting the Picture: Observations from the Library of Congress on Providing Online Access to Pictorial Images.

TLDR: This article describes selected aspects of LC’s practical experience and current practices from digital capture through interactions with users, with an emphasis on the integration of access to pictorial images online with other services and activities at LC.

Abstract: OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, THE LIBRARY (LC) has increasOF CONGRESS ingly created digital reproductions of visual materials to enhance access to its resources. Digitization is now a mainstream activity in the Prints and Photographs Division (P & P) and the Geography and Maps Division (G & M) . Both divisions work closelywith the National Digital Library Program to make their incomparable resources accessible over the Internet to the general public through the American Memory Web site (http:// memory.loc.gov/) . They also use the digital images to serve their more traditional clientele in the reading rooms. Retrieval from a collection of digital images offers special opportunities to apply new technological advances, as illustrated elsewhere in this issue. However, retrieval often takes place in broader contexts. The Print and Photographs Division seeks to enhance access to its international pictorial holdings, whether digitized or not. Within American Memory, the focus is on retrieval by the nonspecialist from a body of materials related to the history and culture of the United States, materials heterogeneous in both original and digital form. A yet broader context is retrieval from the comprehensive collections of the entire Library of Congress. Beyond enabling retrieval, LC is concerned with facilitating use of the materials retrieved, consistent with any associated rights. This article describes selected aspects of LC’s practical experience and current practices from digital capture through interactions with users, with an emphasis on the integration of access to pictorial images online with other services and activities at LC.