The Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) is a collaborative effort established by U.S. federal agencies to develop consistent and sustainable practices for digitizing and preserving historical, archival, and cultural content. Launched in 2007, FADGI aims to ensure high-quality digital reproductions and long-term accessibility of a wide range of materials, including textual documents, maps, photographs, audio recordings, and moving images. The guidelines provide detailed technical specifications for digitization processes, standards for embedding metadata to document the provenance and contextual information of digital files, and recommendations for improving accessibility in digital preservation software. Additionally, FADGI includes a star rating system to evaluate the quality of digitized images, helping institutions achieve desired quality levels. With its comprehensive approach, FADGI supports federal agencies in preserving digital records accurately and effectively, ensuring compliance with federal requirements and enhancing the management of digital archives.

Compliance with the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) is mandatory for all U.S. federal agencies that are responsible for the preservation and digitization of permanent records. This includes agencies that manage historical, archival, and cultural content, ensuring these records are preserved in high-quality digital formats. According to federal mandate M-23-07, all permanent records sent to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) after June 30, 2024, must be submitted in an electronic format that adheres to FADGI standards. While the primary focus is on federal agencies, cultural heritage institutions, libraries, and other organizations involved in digitizing and preserving important records also follow FADGI guidelines to maintain best practices and achieve high-quality digitization results. This broad compliance ensures that digitized records are accessible, accurately preserved, and managed effectively for future use.

This also applies to service bureaus or organizations that digitize records for federal agencies or handle digital records that will be sent to the National Archives or the Library of Congress

To comply with the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI), organizations need to follow a series of steps and guidelines to ensure their digitization processes meet federal standards. Here are the key steps to achieve FADGI compliance:

1. **Understand FADGI Guidelines**: Familiarize yourself with the detailed FADGI guidelines for digitizing different types of materials, including textual documents, maps, photographs, audio recordings, and moving images. These guidelines provide technical specifications, best practices, and quality standards.

2. **Evaluate and Select Appropriate Equipment**: Use high-quality digitization equipment that meets FADGI's technical specifications. This includes selecting scanners and cameras that can produce the required image resolution, color accuracy, and other necessary parameters. For audio and video digitization, ensure your equipment can capture sound and visuals at the required quality levels.

3. **Implement Metadata Standards**: Embed metadata in your digital files according to FADGI standards. Metadata should document the provenance, administrative history, and contextual information of the digitized materials. This enhances discoverability and management of the digital archives.

4. **Follow Best Practices for Digitization**: Adhere to FADGI's best practices for digitization processes. This includes proper handling of original materials, accurate color management, and consistent application of technical parameters. Regularly calibrate your equipment and conduct quality checks to maintain compliance.

5. **Use FADGI's Star Rating System**: Evaluate the quality of your digitized images using the FADGI star rating system, which ranges from one to four stars. Aim for the highest possible rating to ensure the best quality digital reproductions. The star rating system helps assess and validate the accuracy, resolution, and overall quality of the digitized files.

6. **Enhance Accessibility**: Incorporate recommendations for accessibility in your digital preservation practices. This includes making digital archives accessible to individuals with disabilities and using open-source software that supports these features.

7. **Stay Updated with New Guidelines**: Keep up with updates and changes to FADGI guidelines. For example, the 2024 updates introduced new standards for metadata, enhanced accessibility recommendations, and integration potential for AI digitization software.

By following these steps, organizations can ensure their digitization processes comply with FADGI standards, thereby preserving digital records with the highest quality and making them accessible and manageable for future use.

In order to try and stay FADGI compliant you can also get an interScan FADGI compliant scanner.

A FADGI 3-star rating signifies a high standard of digitization quality, balancing accuracy, and efficiency. To achieve this, digitization projects must meet 17 key evaluation parameters. These include capturing images at high resolutions, ensuring accurate color reproduction through proper calibration and white balance, minimizing digital noise, and applying suitable sharpening techniques. Additionally, files should be saved in lossless formats like uncompressed TIFF and include comprehensive metadata. Regular quality control checks against FADGI standards are essential to maintain consistency and accuracy.

Achieving a FADGI 4-star rating represents the pinnacle of digitization quality, demanding strict adherence to the highest standards across 17 key evaluation parameters. This includes capturing images at resolutions often around 600 PPI, ensuring superior tone reproduction, and using advanced color accuracy and white balance techniques. Equipment must minimize digital noise and geometric distortion, while maintaining high modulation transfer function (MTF) values and optimal bit depth, typically 48 bits for color images. Utilizing lossless formats like high-resolution TIFF and embedding extremely detailed metadata are crucial. Rigorous quality control processes and precise color management practices are essential to meet these exacting standards.