Adding IIIF Media
What is IIIF?
The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) defines universal standards for describing and delivering images over the web, and is the result of collaborative efforts across universities, museums, libraries, and other cultural heritage institutions around the world. The framework specifies two APIs, one for image retrieval and one for image display. Institutions that provide IIIF endpoints for their materials are able to share these materials with anyone worldwide using a IIIF-compatible viewer. This provides an unprecedented level of exposure for archives and repositories.
IIIF resources are typically displayed with a deep-zoom viewer, such as Mirador. This allows users to see tiny details in manuscripts, paintings, and other media. See below for an example.
How it works by default
Scalar does not natively support IIIF media or IIIF viewers. We hope to merge this functionality to the upstream codebase so other Scalar users can also integrate IIIF media, but for now, it's only available at Harvard.
How it works at Harvard
Import IIIF media like any other file, under "Files and URLs." You can choose either "Upload Media Files" if you have a IIIF manifest on your computer, or "Link to Media Files" if linking to an online manifest.You must tick the "IIIF Manifest?" box on this page. Most media types can be automatically detected through the file extension when being imported into Scalar, but IIIF manifests can have different file extensions or none at all. You need to include a title. Scalar will attempt to parse as much metadata as possible from the manifest, but will not override the provided title.
Result within Scalar, displayed using Mirador 3 and embedded here. Link to standalone page.
Finding IIIF Manifests
In a IIIF viewer, generally look for a link titled "IIIF Manifest."Generic Mirador viewer example (from https://projectmirador.org/demo/)
Harvard Art Museum
Hollis Images
CURIOSity Digital Collection
