[fitsbits] FITS for Image Archiving?

[Patrick Durusau]

Hello,

I am part of a library group that intends to make high resolution scans
of classic biblical studies materials. The question arose yesterday at a
planning meeting on the format that should be used for archiving the
images. I am only vaguely familiar with FITS but it seems a likely
candidate since it is a non-proprietary format and has a wide spread
user base.

The images I am particularly interested in would be of printed materials
but there are other members of the group that will be scanning items
such as historical movie posters and the like.

Has anyone used FITS as an archival format for non-astronomical data?
More to the point, has anyone used FITS to store scanned images of
printed materials? Finally, is there any software available for
conversion from say tiff format to FITS?

I have checked the FITS documentation and several websites but did not
find the answers to any of the foregoing questions. Advice or
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!

Patrick

--
Patrick Durusau
Director of Research and Development
Society of Biblical Literature
pdurusau at emory.edu