Sunday, August 9, 2009

Contribute to NARGS Image Library

From John Serowicz, NARGS Image Library

This is an open call for photos and to introduce you to the NARGS Image Library. I have been assigned the duties of image archivist.

The Image Library was created to archive images used by our members. The first project will be to scan the 35mm slides from the NARGS Slide Library. This will be done for two reasons. First to save these images in a format that will not be degrading over time. The second is to be able to offer the images to our members in a format readily usable with today's technology. All images will be saved in a nondegrading format then transferred to discs. Duplicates will be kept in two separate locations.

Please notify all your members that we need their photos. All photos will be accepted. If they are in a non-digital format (35mm or negatives) contact me to schedule a time when they can be scanned. Each image should have as much identification information included as possible.

If you know of an older member, past or present, that may have a collection of slides please ask them to join this project so their photos are not lost. All originals will be returned with a copy of the digital format.

All images will only be used by NARGS. You still have copyright privileges for your work. I realize some people get worried about the use or loss of control of their photos. Truth is almost all major nations follow the Berne copyright convention. So almost everything after April 1, 1989 is copyrighted and protected whether it has a notice or not.

What kinds of images are we looking for? Everything! Garden plants, plants in the wild, expedition photos, troughs, seedling, plants with diseases or insects on them, rock garden styles, etc. One project that needs photos is for the Seed Exchange Database. We need photos of seed, seed pods, seedlings, flowering plants in the garden. One important reason for this is to help identify mislabeled seed that is being passed around.

Send all images or questions to imagelibrary@mi.rr.com Also anyone interested in helping with the scanning please contact me.

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