The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF, spoken as 'triple-I-eff') defines several

application programming interfaces An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

that provide a standardised method of describing and delivering images over the web, as well as "presentation based metadata" (that is, structural metadata) about structured sequences of images. If institutions holding artworks, books, newspapers, manuscripts, maps, scrolls, single sheet collections, and archival materials provide IIIF endpoints for their content, any IIIF-compliant viewer or application can consume and display both the images and their structural and presentation metadata. There are many digitisation programmes that have resulted in a particular collection’s content exposed on the web in a particular viewer application, but these various collections have not typically been interoperable with one another, and end users or institutions cannot substitute a viewer of their choice to consume the digitised material. The IIIF aims to cultivate shared technologies for both client and server to enable interoperability across repositories, and to foster a market in compatible servers and viewing applications.

Image API

One major use of an Image API endpoint for a given high resolution source image is to allow clients to request low resolution tiles for use in a Deep Zoom style viewing tool such as OpenSeadragon.

Presentation API

An institution would publish a Manifest (a JSON-LD document) that describes the structure of each book, artwork, manuscript or other artefact. The manifest contains references to Image API endpoints. A viewer application consuming the manifest can produce a coherent user experience for the artefact by implementing features such as page by page navigation, deep zooming into images and annotations on images.

Search API

The IIIF Search API allows for "searching annotation content within a single IIIF resource, such as a Manifest, Range or Collection."

Example use case

A use case for IIIF would be to allow a user to view a manuscript that has been dismembered in the past, with its leaves now scattered across various collections. If each collection exposes its digitized images via the Image API, then a scholar can construct and publish a manifest that digitally recombines the leaves to present a single coherent user experience for the manuscript in any compatible viewer.

History

The Image API was proposed in late 2011 as a collaboration between The

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

, Stanford University, the Bodleian Libraries (Oxford University), the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national reposito ...

Nasjonalbiblioteket The National Library of Norway ( no, Nasjonalbiblioteket) was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened i ...

(National Library of Norway), Los Alamos National Laboratory Research Library, and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

. Version 1.0 was published in 2012. Version 1.0 of the Presentation API was published in 2013 and of the Search API in 2016.

Partial list of software that supports IIIF APIs

Image Servers

* Cantaloupe * Hymir IIIF Server * Loris IIIF Image Server * IIPImage * digilib * Djatoka (with helper)

Viewers / client libraries

* OpenSeadragon * Mirador * Wellcome Player / British Library Universal Viewer * IIIFViewer * Leaflet-IIIF * IIPMooViewer * iNQUIRE * CONTENTdm *

Turning the Pages Turning the Pages is software technology for viewing scanned books on-line in a realistic and detailed manner. It was developed by the British Library in partnership with Armadillo Systems Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish ...

(TTP)

References

External links

Project homepage

IIIF Showcase
– software and websites that implement IIIF
Project discussion forum
(Google groups)
IIIF for Museums
– Introductory slide-deck, November 2014
Awesome IIIF
– big list of IIIF resources {{DEFAULTSORT:International Image Interoperability Framework Application programming interfaces Digital library software Electronic documents Electronic publishing