With its new digitization capabilities, NUAMPS now has the techniques and equipment to professionally digitize documents and objects, allowing NUAMPS staff to fully undertake hi-resolution photographic and archival projects in-house. Projects such as the digitization of the NU Library’s collection of African Posters, which might previously have required materials to be shipped to other cities, can now be handled locally. Additionally, because NUAMPS focuses on the educational community, the digitization system was conceived and built specifically to meet the specialized needs of the documentation of scholarly and historical materials.
The digitization system consists of a 4X5 camera with a 39 megapixel digital back, a camera support mechanism, photographic lighting, and a post-production workstation. From a single lens position, the lab’s system can capture an area of 20” X 12” at 600dpi or up to an area of 40” X 24” at 300dpi, and with a combined experience of over 50 years in image processing and correction, NUAMPS provides quality post-production work for the best possible product.
For two weeks in March, a seminar room in the library was repurposed for a dedicated digitization lab. During this time NUAMPS digitized over seventy items for numerous collections.