Update OldSF links from legacy SFPL photo catalog to DigitalSF records

[grahamazoid]

OldSF appears to still link some image records to SFPL’s legacy/classic historical photo catalog instead of SFPL’s current DigitalSF DAMS.

Example OldSF item:
https://www.oldsf.org/#ll:37.733415%7C-122.505916&e:AAA-4849%7C553&m:37.73277%7C-122.50469%7C18

Photo identifier:
AAA-4849

Legacy SFPL record:
https://sflib1.sfpl.org:446/record=b1000047

Legacy public image:
https://webbie1.sfpl.org/multimedia/sfphotos/AAA-4849.jpg

SFPL confirmed to me that their current system is now DigitalSF, where higher-resolution JPEGs and TIFFs are available when images are public domain. They also said the classic image database is no longer being added to and is being kept as a holding place while they phase out old link-backs.

Current behavior:

• OldSF still works as a map interface
• But the source links can point users into the old SFPL catalog
• That catalog exposes only a low-resolution image for this item
• Users have to manually discover that DigitalSF is now the correct place to look for higher-resolution/public-domain files

Suggested improvement:
Please update OldSF so that source links point to DigitalSF records where possible, or add a visible note/link telling users to search the photo identifier in DigitalSF.

Possible implementation approaches:

• Add a DigitalSF URL field to the OldSF record data where a match exists
• Update source-link generation from legacy sflib1.sfpl.org records to DigitalSF records
• Add a fallback note on legacy-linked items: “For higher-resolution files, search this identifier on DigitalSF”
• Support a small correction/mapping table keyed by SFPL photo identifier, e.g. AAA-4849

This would preserve OldSF’s geocoding/map work while routing users to SFPL’s current public-access system instead of an obsolete catalog endpoint.

[grahamazoid]

Small clarification: my request is not about this one example image specifically.

The broader issue is that OldSF’s map interface should route mapped photo records to the current high-resolution source where available, ideally DigitalSF records/downloads, rather than leaving users in the legacy SFPL classic catalog / low-resolution JPEG path.

The specific AAA-4849 record is just an example of the workflow problem:

• OldSF map item works
• Source link points to the legacy SFPL catalog
• Legacy catalog exposes a low-res access image
• SFPL says DigitalSF is now the current DAMS for higher-res JPEGs/TIFFs when public-domain

So the feature request is: update OldSF’s source-link behavior or metadata mapping so the map remains useful as a geographic discovery interface while linking users to current high-resolution records/downloads when available.

[danvk]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention @grahamazoid. Does SFPL have any kind of downloadable listing of its photographs with both identifiers? If memory serves, back in 2008 I scraped their search results pages, but hopefully today there's a better option.

[grahamazoid]

I looked into this further. I don’t see an obvious public CSV/downloadable crosswalk from SFPL.

What I found is that SFPL’s current system is DigitalSF. SFPL told me the old classic image database is no longer being added to and is being kept as a holding place while they phase out old link-backs. They said higher-res JPEGs/TIFFs are available through DigitalSF when an image is public domain.

So I think the practical route is probably to build the crosswalk from DigitalSF metadata rather than scrape the old catalog again.

The most promising machine-readable lead appears to be DigitalSF’s OAI-PMH endpoint:

https://digitalsf.org/oai

I haven’t confirmed yet which metadata formats/fields it exposes, but the fields that would matter are:

• Old SFPL/OldSF photo identifier, e.g. AAA-4849
• Old classic catalog record / BRN, e.g. b1000047
• Current DigitalSF record URL
• Available file/download information, if exposed

Possible mapping logic:

1. Take the OldSF/SFPL photo ID from the existing OldSF data, e.g. AAA-4849
2. Try to match it against DigitalSF’s local identifier field
3. Optionally match the old classic record number against a BRN/other identifier field if present
4. If a DigitalSF match exists, link OldSF to the DigitalSF record instead of the legacy sflib1.sfpl.org record
5. If no match exists, keep the existing legacy link as fallback

So the short answer is: I don’t see a ready-made public download, but DigitalSF/OAI-PMH looks like the current best source for building one, assuming the relevant identifiers are exposed in the harvested metadata.

[danvk]

@grahamazoid maybe your contacts at SFPL could help put this mapping together? Even if it's not part of any publicly available data set, they surely have access to it in some database.

[grahamazoid]

That makes sense. I don’t have a deeper technical contact at SFPL, just the Photo Desk / San Francisco History Center address I wrote to, but I can ask them a narrower data-export question.

I’ll ask whether they can provide or generate a crosswalk/export with fields like:

• old SFPL photo identifier, e.g. AAA-4849
• old classic catalog record / BRN, e.g. b1000047
• current DigitalSF record URL
• available public download URL or file status, if available
• rights/access status, e.g. public domain/public/restricted

That seems more realistic than asking SFPL to update OldSF directly. They already clarified that OldSF is independent, but they may still be able to provide the identifier mapping from their own migration/DAMS data.

If they can provide even a CSV of old ID → DigitalSF URL, that would probably be enough to let OldSF update source links or add a DigitalSF fallback.

[grahamazoid]

Thanks. I asked SFPL about whether they could provide a crosswalk/export, but their latest reply was that this is not something their DIGI Center can work on anytime soon, possibly not until the end of FY 26/27.

So I don’t think there is a near-term SFPL-provided mapping/export to rely on.

To be clear, I’m not a developer and I don’t know enough about the OldSF data structure to know what the best implementation would be. I’m mostly trying to document the problem and pass along what SFPL told me in case you or someone else familiar with the project wants to improve the source links.

The issue as I understand it is:

• OldSF is still a useful geographic/map interface
• Some OldSF records still point to SFPL’s old/classic photo catalog
• SFPL says DigitalSF is now the current DAMS
• DigitalSF is where higher-resolution JPEGs/TIFFs are available when public-domain
• SFPL does not seem able to provide a custom old-catalog-to-DigitalSF crosswalk anytime soon

So maybe the practical improvement, if anyone wants to take it on, would be something like:

• Try matching OldSF photo IDs against DigitalSF local identifiers
• Link matched records to DigitalSF instead of the old sflib1.sfpl.org catalog pages
• Keep the old legacy link as fallback when no DigitalSF match exists
• Or add a visible note/link telling users to search the photo identifier in DigitalSF for higher-resolution files

I don’t want to imply that I can build this myself. I just wanted to surface the broken/outdated link path and share the information I was able to get from SFPL.