Contact: Leah Barbour
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Members of the Mississippi State family with a knack for remembering faces, places and names: The University Archives Digital Collection needs you to crowdsource.
MSU Libraries' online photo collection at http://library.msstate.edu/msuphotos includes more than 5,000 images chronicling the land-grant institution's 137-year history. While each picture includes a title, description and category, many dates are missing, said digital projects coordinator Randall McMillen.
"We're hoping users will utilize the 'Comments' feature to help name people or places they recognize," he said. "The data came out of the database that the university has collected over 137 years, and we've tried to watermark everything. We want people to be able to see this range of history."
From photographs to postcards, images were scanned into the system at a resolution of 600 dpi, or dots-per-inch. However, the pictures available online have a much lower resolution, around 72 dpi on average, McMillen said.
For a high resolution, publication-quality photo without a watermark, McMillen advised users to scroll down to "Description" and click "Rights."
"When you click the link, you'll go to the 'Image Reproduction Services' page, and it will explain the policies," McMillen said. "Fill out the 'Image Reproduction Request Form' at the top middle of the page."
While MSU students and university-affiliated individuals working on official projects will not have fees, each image requested by MSU-affiliated individuals will cost $5 or $10 for those not affiliated.
McMillen said any individual submitting a photo request will be contacted by a Special Collections representative to secure the necessary payment information. Payments also may be made either by mail or by visiting the library in person at 395 Hardy Rd.
While online payment is not available, libraries officials have worked hard to make all other aspects of the process as simple as possible, McMillen said.
"This policy goes for all of our collections, but we're promoting this one because these 5,000 pictures have appeal for any alumni, faculty members and administrators," he said. "These photos are for people who just love this campus and love coming here."
For more information about the University Archives Digital Collection, contact Special Collections at sp_coll@library.msstate.edu or 662-325-7679.