Testing long exposures in different environments

We recently investigated how long exposures during digitization might be affected by different physical locations. We tested 4 locations and 2 shutter speeds to capture the blur induced by walking heavily around the copy stand during exposure.

The 4 areas tested were:

  1. Concrete Foundation at the ARC
  2. 7th floor of Alkek Library in the Corner of the Building
  3. 7th floor of Alkek Library in the Center of the Building
  4. 2nd floor of Alkek Library on a Raised Floor installed over carpet for data & power lines

We tested 2 shutter speeds that are representative of those we use to digitize film negatives using Artograph LightPad Pros:

  1. 1/10th of a second
  2. 1 second

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Simple batch renamer for Windows 10 PowerShell

I’m currently sitting in front of one of our Windows 10 computers that does not have Cygwin or Git BASH installed so there’s no way for me to quickly rename TIFF files from command-line like I am used to . . . enter Windows PowerShell!

I need to rename the files according to the formula <filename_stub>_<###>.tif such that a file like SMDR_1950s-SF-37_May-17-2017_12-51-19.tif becomes SMDR_1950s-37_001.tif. In this case, the <filename_stub> is SMDR_1950s-37 and <###> is 001.

So I wrote a little Windows PowerShell script to help out.

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Searching the Library of Congress with Python and their new JSON API, Part 2

This post builds on my last one: Searching the Library of Congress with Python and their new JSON API, which is why I’ve added Part 2 to the end of the title. Before we dive back into the Library of Congress‘s JSON API, some housekeeping items:

  1. Even though the Library of Congress’s website is loc.gov, the abbreviation for Library of Congress is LC
    1. I tried to find a press-ready image of NBC‘s old The More You Know logo I could add here, but
      1. the updated logo doesn’t make me hear the jingle in my head
      2. I did find Megan Garber‘s 2014 article covering the PSA series for The Atlantic that has some classic video I enjoyed
  2. As of October 2017, LC has expressly stated in a disclaimer that their JSON API is a work in progress. Use at your own risk!! We might (will likely) change this!

Recap on Stryker’s Negatives Project

I recently came across Michael Bennett‘s article Countering Stryker’s Punch: Algorithmically Filling the Black Hole in the latest edition of code4lib: <– GREAT STUFF!

He’s using Adobe Photoshop  and GIMP to digitally restore blank areas in images due to a hole punch having been taken to the physical negative.

Current Task

Use the Library of Congress’s JSON API to download all of the hole punch images and their associated metadata.

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