1991:2 - Universitetet i Bergen

people searching khrough the originals for illustratioa material fos
exhibirions or publications.
On this bnckground ihe aim of the project is to preserve the material
- while also providing casier access. The University Library has much
experjence in building databases, and in Lhis case the eIectronic regi-
skarion "cards" pemit access also to Lhe digitized pictures they carry
information about. Hawerer, there are many practical and rechnicai
detailc to consider in a picture base of this size.
HyperCard searches sequentially, card by cnrd through the stack, and
as mote piclures were regislered. the search time increased. To speed
ap he search, extsa software (HyperKRS from KnowledgeSet Corp)
was installcd to create an index of all words in the HyperCard stacks.
which can now be searchcd 60 limes faster than originaIIy.
The scanner had to be upgraded to recognize 256 grey tones, a
degrce of solution made necessary by Lhe qudity of the pictures.
Decisions also had to bc made regarding the future use of the digitized
pictures. Most of the pictures wiIl be scanned with a solution of 75
points per inch. which provides maximal computer screen solulion, and
only some 3400 of the most sought-after ilerns will be scanncd wilh
150 poinis per inch. to give acceptable quality for some printing
purposes. This distinction has been made in order to reducc the need
for stornge capacity - since digitized pictures represent a lot of infor-
mation, and the higher the soIution, the more information. Withour
some form of compression the totaf picture collectlon will demand 2.2
GBytes of storage capacity. The djgi~ized pictures are at present stored
on aptica1 disks.
2.2 GByles is an impracticable arnount of information to handle, so
for prac tical purposes the information will be compressed, presumabl y
LO about 600 MBytes, to be distributed Lo user points on a 5.25"
mngneto-optical disk. Compression and decompression inevi tabl y means
losing some information. Cornpression techniqucs. however, are rapidly
improving, and therefore the uncompressed digitized pictures will be
stored so thar they may be compressed with irnproved iechniques and
rcduced loss of information at a Inter stage.
KOMITEINNSTILLING OM ET KOMPETANSESENTER
FOR MUSEER I NORGE
REPORT ON A COMPETENCE CEICrTRE FOR
NORWEGIAN MUSEUMS
En 1987 the Boatd of the Association 05 Norwegian Museums for Art
and SociaI Hisrory (NKKTVI) raised the idca of establishing a joint
HUMANISL]:SKE DATA 291 183