Q. digitalsf.org FAQs

What is digitalsf.org?

digitalsf.org is San Francisco Public Library's public access portal to its digitized and born-digital collections. It features tens of thousands of photographs, documents, ephemera, and other archival materials from SFPL's San Francisco History Center, LGBTQIA+ Center, Government Information Center, and Branch Libraries.

How can I download an image or other item?

There are a few different methods to download images.

1. To download the highest quality jp2 or TIFF image. scroll down below the image to the part of the record in blue that says “Files.” Click the “download” button next to the file marked “Public:”

A “Save as” window will open. Choose the file destination and then click “Save.” The image will be saved onto your device, with a filename that matches its local i.d. number in digitalsf.org. You can use that local i.d. number to cite or retrieve the item in digitalsf.org later.

Please note: jp2 images will not open in your browser. On a Mac, jp2 files will open in Preview. To open jp2 files on a PC, you need Photoshop or other image editing software capable of handling this file type. On a web browser, search for “opening jp2 files on a PC” to find free software applications you can use.

2. To download a lower-res image that you can view with a browser, use the download button inside the viewer. Choose the last option down:

The image will open in a new tab in your browser. To save the image, right-click on it:

Select “Save as,” and use the Local Identifier (highlighted below) as your filename, e.g. AAP-0013. This will be useful later when you’re citing or trying to retrieve the image again later:

For download options, what is the difference between current view and whole image?

“Current view” will save just the portion of the image that is displayed in the viewer in a new tab, whereas “Whole image” will open the entire image in a new tab.

What is the difference between a TIFF, jpeg and jp2?

TIFFs are lossless files that contain all the original file information without degrading the quality of the image. TIFFs are large files and are great for long-term preservation or editing. Jpgs are highly compressed files that are good for online publication and sharing due to their relatively small size. The type of file compression used in jpgs does cause some loss of detail in files, though not always viewable to the human eye. Jp2s are high-quality files with a large amount of compression, allowing them to be much smaller in size than TIFFs. Please see the “how to download” instructions for information on how to open jp2 files on a PC.

[include info on free jp2 viewers here without naming any specific one. “Search for ‘How to view/open JPEG 2000 files’”]

Can I save my searches?

Yes, once you have created a user account, all your searches are automatically saved to your account. Click on your username/nickname in the upper right-hand corner to see your account details. On the “Your Account” page, select “Your Searches” to see all the searches you have done. You can do the same search again by locating the proper search pattern and selecting “Execute search.”

Can I save citations and/or items?

Users can save items to “baskets” once they have created an account. The Baskets functionality allows you to create sets of records and group them together. You can access the Baskets feature in two ways once you are logged into the system:

• Click on your name in the top right-hand corner of the interface, then select "Your Baskets" on the main Account page.
• Hover over "Personalize" in the navigation menu and select "Your Baskets" from the drop-down menu.

The first time you go to Your Baskets, the list will be empty. In order to start using the Baskets functionality, you will have to create a new basket.

Set a name for the basket. You will also need to add a topic. When you have added a topic once, you will have the option to choose it as a topic when creating any future baskets.

Your basket will now be shown on the list of your personal baskets. Baskets are listed under their respective topics. In the list of baskets, click on the basket name. From the basket display, you can delete the basket or edit the basket settings. You can also edit the topic. Click Edit basket to edit basket settings. Under General settings, you can change the basket name, choose a different topic from the list of existing topics, or add a new topic.

To add records to basket, go to Search and search for relevant records. Records can be added to your basket both from the Brief view and from the Detailed view.

To add records to basket from the Brief view, check the box next to the records you want to add. Then Click "Add to basket" at the bottom of the page. Choose the basket where you wish to add the records. You can also add a note to the records.

To add a record to the basket from the Detailed view, click the Add to basket button in the action bar. Then choose basket as shown above.