Xerox and Library of Congress Collaborate on JPEG2000 for Image Preservation

Xerox and the Library of Congress announced a joint effort last week to study the use of JPEG 2000. This is welcome news! The project is "designed to help develop guidelines and best practices for digital content," a result that will be most welcome for those of us that want to do the right thing but lack the time and/or technical expertise to pin down exactly what the right thing is. I think it is safe to say that inertia has taken us this far with our collective TIFF-based practice, and even the most conservative preservationist would probably acknowledge that the state of the art has moved in the past quarter century to a point where there might be a better way.

I'm familiar with Rob Buckley's work at Xerox, and that he is overseeing Xerox's efforts in this collaboration means we can anticipate a great outcome. As others have noted, the time is ripe for work in this area.