The Library of Congress FEDLINK Program intends to contract for microfilming and digitization services on behalf of the Library of Congress Preservation Directorate (LCRP). The Library of Congress has newspapers, serials and other printed works in need of preparation for preservation reformatting (microfilming, microfiche, and/or digital imaging). Many of these materials are in foreign languages and could be in any script, including Arabic, Asian, and Cyrillic language scripts. Many items may be brittle or deteriorated, with physical damage, such as torn pages or loose bindings. Many volumes or issues are in soft bindings or are not bound. Volumes may vary in length from a few pages to hundreds of pages. Items may range in size from a few inches in both dimensions to large posters, maps, folios and newspapers. The materials include primarily newspapers, but also periodicals and official government publications, both bound and unbound. Some materials may be recently produced or published. The Contractor shall perform all preparation for all microfilming and digitization at the Contractor's facility. The Contractor shall collect and pack materials from the Library's storage areas in the Capitol Hill complex, Washington, DC, transport the volumes to the Library's Madison Building loading dock where they shall be loaded on the Contractor's vehicle for transport to the Contractor's site. The Contractor shall 1) perform image capturing to deliver microforms in three generations of film (archival master, print master, and a service copy), in accordance with industry technical, editorial, and bibliographic standards using Silver-Gelatin (or Silver-Halide) film 2) provide microform duplication and microfilm processing services, and 3) provide JPEG2000 images of original newspapers and associated metadata in accordance with federal guidelines and Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) guidelines. During the contract period, the Library will transition from microform to digital images, and will require an increasing quantity of digitized files with fewer microforms each option year, if exercised. The Library notes that one key purpose for preservation imaging is to create an archival copy; distribution of these copies will follow a careful determination of their copyright status. The Library will not require the Contractor to perform work if, by doing so, the Contractor will infringe upon third-party rights under the Copyright Law of the United States. The Library anticipates between 300,000 and 3,500,000 pages produced per year.
