Managing Image Collections

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Photographic image collection management

Abstract

The increased use of photographs by scholars as legitimate sources of historical information has compelled information professionals to reevaluate their appraisal and collection development policies. Appraisal of photographs is difficult to apply because of the unique nature of the medium, but it is essential that the same intellectual rigor applied to other historical textual records be adopted for visual records. This chapter explores image collection development since the late 1960s. A discussion of the importance of selection for analog and digital images and of developing appraisal criteria follows, emphasizing the importance of good selection techniques to ensure that resources are invested ...