Document Icons and Page Thumbnails: Issues in Construction of Document Thumbnails for Page-Image Digital Libraries

Digital libraries are increasingly based on digital page images, but techniques for constructing usable versions of these page images are largely folklore. This paper documents some issues encountered in creating various kinds of renderings of page images for the UpLib digital library system, and suggests approaches for each, based on both problem analysis and user feedback. Several factors important in determining useful sizes for small visual representations of the documents, called document icons, are discussed; one algorithm, called log-area, seems most effective.