What Is FADGI Compliance? A Guide to Digital Imaging Standards

FADGI Requirements Overview

FADGI emphasizes image quality and uses a rating system to determine the level of compliance needed for certain records.

FADGI also outlines guidelines for heritage and culture media and modern textual records (MTR). Most FADGI submissions refer to MTR guidelines because MTR compliance covers a wide range of documents. These guidelines are used for books and journals, laser-printed documents, photographic prints, and other office paper documents with a high contrast between paper background and text.

Alternatively, antique records and other heritage documents rely on a star rating system to determine compliance. Higher stars correlate to more precise copies and showcase a team’s ability to preserve original copies in digital formats. 

• One star: One-star compliance indicates minimal adherence to FADGI guidelines. This rating depicts an organization’s ability to meet basic standards with processes or equipment that lack accuracy or quality. This rating isn’t sufficient for high-quality reproduction projects but may be adequate for basic digitization tasks. 
• Two stars: A two-star rating depicts moderate compliance. Processes and equipment with this rating have satisfactory performance and adhere to most FADGI recommendations. Two-star ratings are generally suitable for many digitization projects.
• Three stars: As of June 2024, federal agencies only accept digital materials with a three-star FADGI rating or higher. Three stars indicate excellent compliance, and equipment and processes with this rating demonstrate superior performance in preservation standards. This rating is suitable for demanding reproduction projects needing high-quality outputs.
• Four stars: The highest FADGI rating is four stars. This rating highlights the ability of equipment and processes to meet or exceed all FADGI recommendations and produce outstanding digital outputs. A four-star rating is critical for extremely demanding applications.

Criteria impacted by star ratings include:

• Image resolution: FADGI guidelines depict image resolution requirements in pixels per inch or dots per inch. Higher resolutions are more suitable for capturing minute details and ensuring material fidelity.
• Quality control: Quality control is crucial throughout the digitization process. Factors that impact quality control may include image monitoring quality, equipment calibration procedures, inspection processes, and consistency across multiple outputs.
• Preservation standards: FADGI guidelines aim to preserve historic content, making preservation standards integral to FADGI compliance. Storage best practices, archival principles, and file format sustainability can impact this metric.
• Dynamic range: The ability of processes and equipment to represent and capture all shades and tones in original materials is known as dynamic range. A satisfactory dynamic range will encompass shadows and highlights.
• File formats: Open and standardized file formats are best for ensuring long-term digital accessibility. Suitable options often include JPEG and TIFF formats.
• Metadata standards: Metadata schemas and standardized vocabularies impact content management and retrieval. Using best practices facilitates material discovery.

How to Ensure FADGI Digitization Standards Compliance

Implementing compliance best practices can help you align your organization’s initiatives and processes with FADGI recommendations and requirements. Consider these best practices:

• Understand requirements: Each industry and sector can have unique requirements for achieving FADGI compliance and industry standards. Understand the star rating your organization needs to determine the best practices for reaching success. Build your compliance processes around reaching that star rating.
• Implement training: Operator training is crucial for ensuring each team member can operate equipment and understand system capabilities when producing outputs. Invest in ongoing training to ensure team members are updated on best practices. 
• Upgrade equipment: Consider whether your team needs to upgrade its equipment to better meet standards. Outdated equipment with accuracy or performance issues can make it more difficult to align with FADGI guidelines. Investing in modern solutions can be the difference in reaching and maintaining compliance.
• Test and evaluate: Organizations must have repeatable processes, and you should continuously test processes and equipment to identify inconsistencies or deficiencies. Address problems promptly and continue testing until you obtain consistent and accurate results.