A 2012 Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant will allow the University of Southern California, its West Semitic Research Project’s InscriptiFact Digital Image Library, and the Archaeology Research Center to establish a cutting-edge training program. The program will focus on Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), which provides the capacity to view in unprecedented detail the textured surfaces of artifacts by enabling users to move a virtual light source around high resolution images in real time in order to illuminate them from all angles. RTI training will empower researchers, scholars, students, archivists, librarians, and museum professionals to carry out field projects involving highly sophisticated and innovative image documentation of ancient texts, artifacts, paintings and other cultural heritage objects. The project will also serve to facilitate the acquisition and distribution of RTI images of ancient inscriptions and artifacts by bringing the images created by the field projects into the InscriptiFact Digital Image Library.

Congratulations, Professor Zuckerman!

To learn more about InscriptiFact, see http://www.inscriptifact.com/aboutus/index.shtml  .

For more information on the Archaeology Research Center, see http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/arc/ . The Archaeology Major and Minor are now housed in the Religion Department.