on 11/22/02 9:48 AM Brown, Matthew said:

> Is anybody using DjVu rather than or in addition to PDF?  DjVu files are
> much smaller than PDF, but the viewer (which is a free plugin) does not come
> packaged in browsers, therefore the trade off is a concern.
>

Here at NC State we are starting to experiment with the use of DjVu as an
alternative to PDF files for Electronic Reserve. We have not considered
whether conversion of existing ETD PDFs would be feasible.

Mathew is right the file sizes are much smaller, indeed phenomenally so in
most cases but you do have to install the plugin which requires more
instruction and support.

Our interest in DjVu has been as a tool to service our Distance Ed patrons
and to reduce the download times of scanned PDFs on Reserve. ETDs,   as born
digital documents, might not be the best collections to use DjVu on.

Keith Morgan
--
Keith Morgan - Digital Library Initiatives
North Carolina State University Libraries
Raleigh, NC 27695-7111 Phone: 919.515.4221
[log in to unmask]
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/