05/07/2026
The Ristech Guarantee
A formal statement of principles for archival and library digitization.
For more than thirty years, Ristech has supplied digitization hardware to institutions whose work depends on faithful, evidence-grade capture: national, provincial, and state archives; leading academic libraries; and some of the largest public library systems in North America. We hold this work to the standards the profession itself has established, and to a principle the profession has earned the right to insist upon.
We commit to the following:
1. Faithful capture, verified to standard.
Every capture system we supply, including i2S, book2net, Kirtas, nextScan, and ST Imaging, is engineered, configured, and verified to meet or exceed the imaging benchmarks against which the profession evaluates: FADGI 3-star and 4-star (Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative Still Image Technical Guidelines), ISO 19264-1 (image quality measurement for cultural heritage), and Metamorfoze Light through Full. Conformance is measured against documented targets, not assumed.
2. No interpretive AI by default.
Ristech hardware and bundled software do not introduce AI-generated content, including generative metadata, AI-corrected OCR, image upscaling, generative finding-aid summaries, or AI-suggested subject headings, into the capture or post-processing workflow. These tools exist, and some institutions want them. They are activated only at the institution’s explicit written request, delivered in clearly labeled and separable layers, and traceable to their source.
3. The institution’s authority.
The collection belongs to the archivist and the librarian. Decisions about description, interpretation, and the use of computational tools belong to them. Our role is to deliver capture systems that honor that authority, in service of the standards that protect it.
This is what we mean by a faithful surrogate. It is the standard against which we will be measured.
