We present the Image processing Library and Toolbox, IPLT. in the context of a collaborative electron microscopy processing effort, which has driven the evolution of our Software architecture over the last years. The high-level interface design as well as the underlying implementations are described to demonstrate the flexibility of the IPLT framework. It aims to support the wide range of skills and interests of methodologically oriented scientists who wish to implement their ideas and algorithms as processing code. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.