SOW.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK

Digitizing the U.S. National Arboretum’s Bound Herbarium Material

Background/Introduction

The U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. houses a large collection of dried, preserved plant specimens called an herbarium. The Herbarium consists mostly of individually mounted specimens on sheets of paper, but a subset of the collection is in large, fragile, bound volumes with preserved plants inside. The volumes and the botanical specimens within them date back to the 1860s and represent unique historical artifacts not found anywhere else. Digitizing these important objects will aid in accessibility and preservation of the information contained in the original items and will allow universal access to them. Currently the only way to access this material is to visit the Herbarium in-person. Ultimately, these specimens and their data will be hosted on the ARS Biocollections Portal, an online gateway to the Herbarium and other ARS natural history collections, thereby increasing its scientific and cultural value enormously.

Scope

Service will entail high-resolution imaging of 10 fragile herbarium volumes, containing approximately 2520 bound pages (specimens) total.

Objectives

Each of the 10 bound volumes will be handled and imaged following strict standards. The volumes must be imaged non-destructively (e.g., remain bound). Because the materials are over 120 years old, extreme care must be taken to avoid damaging the objects. Each volume when closed measures 16" (length) x 13" (width); individual pages within them measure 15.5" (l) x 11" (w) each.

The resulting images, including any raw and derivative files, will be delivered to ARS for permanent digital preservation and for public access to the material online.

Requirements

• Full compliance with FADGI (Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative) 3 Star (minimum) or higher, including all quality control and documentation

• Use of device-target(s) for daily validation and calibration of the system

• Use of object-level target and/or ruler for each sheet

• Image output must be color, 600 ppi (pixels per inch)

• Imaging must be carried out non-destructively via overhead camera(s)

• Imaging should commence from the first page and continue sequentially to the last page;

only pages with pre-attached barcodes will be imaged (anything not barcoded should be skipped)

• Volumes shall remain in their original, unadulterated bound format and always be kept horizontal (face-up)

• Loose plant material should remain undisturbed

• Use of a book “cradle” or book “prop” to ensure each volume does not open more than approximately 120 degrees (the objects are capable of opening a full 180 degrees, but this is potentially damaging to the spines)

• Nitrile or latex laboratory gloves must be worn at all times when handling the volumes and touching individual pages within; gloves of any other material or style may not be used

• A sheet of white paper must be placed behind any pages that have holes, major gaps, or cut-aways so as not to show the plant material on the page behind

• Pages can be a) imaged singly or b) imaged as an open unit, but must be subsequently split into two separate images

• Images will be cropped so that only a single page appears per image file

• Images should retain a small black border around the page to ensure no loss of data or material

• De-skew and manually crop any problematic images

• Image files will be named based on the barcode that is pre-attached to each page; some barcodes have a “NA” prefix (e.g., “NA0701238.tif”, “NA0701239.tif”, “NA0701240.tif”) and some are strictly numerical (e.g., “40295.tif”, “40296.tif”, “40297.tif”)

• All objects should be kept in an environment free of food and drink, out of direct sunlight, and with stable temperature and humidity

• Ability to accept ARS-delivery of the items if Vendor is in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area;

otherwise, must provide arrangements for specialized transportation (e.g., an “art handler” or museum courier) to and from the digitization studio and Washington, D.C.

• Vendor shall provide a small sign-off test/sample batch before commencing the project

• Vendor shall conduct a 10% (minimum) post-process review of output files and deliverables

Delivery

Deliverables will consist of barcode-named uncompressed TIFF files, organized into directories representing each of the 10 herbarium volumes. Delivery will be via ARS-furnished hard drive to the ARS Point of Contact upon completion of imaging and post-processing of the entire set of materials (i.e., all 10 volumes). Retrieval of the herbarium items will occur at the same time as delivery of the digital assets. If Vendor is in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area, Point of Contact will retrieve ARS property and deliverables in-person; otherwise, Vendor will return property and send deliverables via specialized courier to the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Vendor must obtain signed acceptance of deliverables and manifest of returned ARS property.

ARS Point of Contact

Harlan Svoboda harlan.svoboda@usda.gov

(202) 245-2715 3501 New York Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20002