[WEB4LIB] Does this exist?

[Donna Stewart]

Hi, Karen -

Looks to me as if you could accomplish this task before your library can
complete the paperwork to buy the software.  Half an hour, including the
download.  I've been trying out an evaluation copy of ThumbsPlus from
Cerious Software:  http://www.cerious.com/  It's a wonderful tool for
organizing enormous collections of images, and I've also been pleased with
the results of batch processing thousands of thumbnails.  I thought it was
supposed to do exactly what you describe, so I just spent about 10 minutes
copying a handful of images to a test directory, annotating them, and
configuring a web page wizard.  Here are the results:
http://html.ulib.csuohio.edu/dls/test/

You may choose which fields you want to display - file size, resolution,
annotations, etc, and specify the size of the thumbnails.  It looked as if
it had a few web templates, too, although I didn't take the time to check
them out.  The code's not too bad, and you can easily pretty up the html ( I
didn't) in a text editor without breaking anything.  And it's fast!  If the
library won't spring for the $80 to buy it, I may buy myself a personal
copy.

(Hey, let me know if the self-cleaning carpet thing works out.  I could also
use a room stretcher.)

Donna Stewart
Cleveland State University Library
Cleveland, Ohio
d.stewart at csuohio.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of Karen G. Schneider
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2000 3:56 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Does this exist?


I have close to 100 photographs of library interiors that I would like to
organize into a web-based resource for presentations to trustees, the
public, etc.  All of these photographs are already in some digital form or
another--either scanned, or in a proprietary format that can export to JPEG
or PNG (or GIF), etc. They are also mine (photographed with permission from
the libraries, too).

Assuming that the pictures are first exported in whatever format is most
reasonable, I would then like to use a tool to do the following:

* Resize them to a standard size and resolution
* Provide a little cataloging information for each item that would display
on the web (e.g. "37.  Computer Lab, Petticoat Junction, NY, 1998")
* Organize them into a web-based slide show in tolerable HTML

We also don't want to commit any in-house resources to developing such a
product--we want to buy a piece of software.

Is this up there with my desire for a self-cleaning carpet, or does
something like this actually exist?  I guess it wouldn't absolutely,
positively have to be a web-based tool, but that would be highly desirable.
(And it does keep it on-topic for WEB4LIB...)

Karen G. Schneider kgs at bluehighways.com
Assistant Director for Technology
Shenendehowa Public Library, NY
www.shenpublib.org