Hello Helen, Creating a TIFF file first is considered among digitization's "best practices" and serves as the original document from which other digital formats are derived. I understand the webmaster's approach, but his or her approach is concerned with presentation, not preservation and archival issues. I support your viewpoint. Regards, Karen Terrell Pardue Instr. Technology Librarian (and web developer) University Library Colorado State University-Pueblo (719) 549-2326 -----Original Message----- From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rhue, Monika Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 1:19 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Digitization Question Importance: High We are working on a digitization project which involves scanning original documents from our archival collection. The web master want to scan these letters, correspondence, etc into PDF without creating a master file. From my research, we should scan all original documents in TIFF as the master files. Maybe the PDF can be the means in which people access the documents. It was stated that both the Florida Digital Archive and the Deep Blue repository at the University of Michigan find this compliance an acceptable archival format. http://www.fcla.edu/digitalArchive/pdfs/PDFGuideline.pdf#search=%22adobe %20acrobat%20professional%20A-1b%20standard%22 http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/about/deepbluepreservation.jsp However, I want to get the opinion of my colleagues. Thanks Nooma Monika Rhue, MLIS Archivist/Archival Services Librarian Inez Moore Parker Archives and Research Center Johnson C. Smith University 100 Beatties Ford Road Charlotte, NC 28216 704-371-6741 Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> <http://archives.jcsu.edu/echo> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>