Content Submissions

The National Scenic Byways Program (NSBP) welcomes public submissions to the Digital Library. However, we want to ensure that submitted content meets the needs of the Program and our primary audiences.

General Steps for Submission

  1. Review the guidelines below.
  2. Prepare your items for submission.
  3. E-mail helpdesk@byways.org to discuss methods of sending the items to library staff.

Content Guidelines

The following guidelines should be considered when submitting content to the library:

Images

  1. Use a JPEG format - Although the library can accept images in virtually any format, most media professionals prefer JPEG. It is a very common format that every web browser can display and virtually every publication software tool can import. It uses compression so the files are not as bulky as TIFF, BMP, or RAW files, and it can compress images according to user-selected quality settings. So, unlike other formats that use compression, JPEG files don’t necessarily lessen the image quality.

  2. Use a High-Quality Compression Setting - When using a JPEG format, select the highest possible quality setting, ensuring that the picture’s quality is not degraded during compression. For example, in Photoshop, this is a compression setting of “12.”

    IMPORTANT: Once an image is compressed with something less than the highest possible quality setting, data is lost and cannot be recovered. The image’s sharpness and colors could be permanently damaged making it useless to media professionals.

  3. Create high-resolution images - The size of the image should be at least 7 inches in the longest dimension when printed at 300 DPI. In other words, the longest dimension should be about 2100 pixels, or about that produced by a 3.1 megapixel digital camera. If you take a beautiful picture at the low 640x480 resolution, it will only be about 3 x 1.5 inches when printed at 300 DPI – which is less than half the size of a common snapshot.

  4. Avoid image adjustments - Most media professionals prefer photos that have not been touched up. Specifically, do not “sharpen” or “color-adjust” the image. Often such alterations degrade the original features of the image and prevent media professionals from using the image. Editors will do alterations themselves, if necessary.

Other Types of Content

The Digital Library accepts content of other media types, such as documents, video, and audio. However, additional requirements may apply to submissions.

  1. Meet accessibility requirements - Content available on the National Scenic Byways websites must meet accessibility requirements outlined in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. This requires that all multimedia content have an equivalent alternative that is synchronized with the presentation. This means that audio content must have a text transcript and video content must supply synchronized captions (subtitles.)

    Contact the Helpdesk if you have questions about appropriate multimedia submissions.

  2. Use open document formats - If at all possible, content should be viewable using software that is freely (without charge) available. For documents, we recommend the Adobe PDF format, although there may be additional restrictions imposed by FHWA on the use of PDF.

Copyright and Usage

Submission to the library implies that you are giving the National Scenic Byways Program permission to use and distribute the content.

  1. Public domain content - The NSBP prefers that content submitted to the Digital Media Library be in the public domain. Traveler writers and media professionals look for pictures in the public domain so they can use them readily without a lot of extra work.
  2. Copyrighted content - You should only submit copyrighted content if you are the owner of the copyright, or have permission from the copyright owner to distribute the content. If there are terms or conditions for use of the copyrighted content, describe them when submitting.

See our Copyright and Usage Guide for more information.

Identifying Your Submissions

Please provide the following information with each submission:

  • Name/caption - A short description of the photo or item, suitable for display with the item.
  • Alternate text description - A longer description of the content of the item, suitable for use by people with disabilities in identifying the content.
  • (for photos or video) Location at which the photo or video was taken, including the State, name of byway(s), and name of the place, building, event, or activity.
  • Copyright information and usage terms as described above