Ages ago, a vendor said they had a scanner that was used for bound items
that couldn't be taken apart, and I believe the equipment was designed
for COLD/COM output.  The books would be opened and scanned without
turning them over - the scanner was OVER not UNDER the pages.  It was
used primarily for archival purposes with fragile books, was more
expensive per page, and required an operator with a very steady hand.
Good luck!
Juanita

-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Larry Medina
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 2:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Portable or Handheld Scanners


> Has anyone on the Listserv used any equipment that can scan a book by
> turning pages. Rather than placing the book on a scanner?

 Not in a commercial setting, but in a personal one. Results will
definitely
vary, depending on what you're trying to achieve.

I have old minute books that not only can't I because of there
> condition, scan them on a conventional scanner, but I also have
> to scan them at there location.

 While many will see this as heresy, the way this is usually done is to
slit
the binding of the books and then scan the pages individually.
Naturally,
you lose the archival status of the ledgers as a collection, but you
will
still have the materials, and could possibly have them re-sewn or bound
if
there's a desire to do so when the project is done.

So I would need a portable , lightweight, scanner that can scan large
> book pages, store the data and upload it into a system for indexing
> and storage.

 Lots of up-front research needs to be done here. First, you need to
ensure
the scanning device (hardware) interfaces successfully with your
computer
system and operating environment. Then you need to determine the
limitations
of the capacity of the device, or if it feeds directly into an
application
from the source material. You'll also need to look at the software that
comes with it, and what it actually does with the textual content... if
it
stores it as WYSIWYG or if it stores it in some manner that allows you
to
use OCR and/or manipulate the content in columnar form as data, etc.
Most of
all, you'd need to do some samples from the source documents to see if
it
will have ANY LEVEL of success, because as you well know, few programs
are
more than 50% successful with handwriting recognition, and even if they
can
start to "learn" a handwriting style, in minutes books, you will likely
have
a wide range of handwriting from any number of individuals over a period
of
years.
 Sounds like it could be a "cool" project... sounds like it might also
be
something worth attempting to qualify for a Grant to fund the work, if
you
can show it's enduring and/or historic value to the institution.
 Larry

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance