Message-Id: <199610220459.XAA07426@library.wustl.edu> Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1996 00:54:12 -0400 From: "Robert A. Baron" <mailto:rabaron@PIPELINE.COM> Subject: Re: rec on 1) angle scanner and 2) dig camera To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
At 03:03 PM 10/21/96 -0900, it was written: >---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender: IMAGELIB <mailto:IMAGELIB@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>Poster: Stuart Glogoff <mailto:sglogoff@BIRD.LIBRARY.ARIZONA.EDU>
>Subject: rec on 1) angle scanner and 2) dig camera
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 1) We have some old (ie, 100-150 years), rare volumes in Special
>collections that we'd like to begin digitizing. But the bindings are tight
>and we don't want to damage them. We can not open them and lay them flat on
>our flatbed scanners. Are there scanners that would allow us to work with
>such volumes? I was at EDUCOM last week and a sales rep from Kodak at the
>trade show told he didn't think such a beast existed. Someone from Xerox
>thought they do exist but it wasn't his area and he didn't know
>any specifics. [They ought to give you mouse pad or a t-shirt
>when they don't know. :>) ]
During the 1970s, I believe, xerox had a model copier that permitted books to be opened only 90 degrees in order to make copies. The glass bed came to one edge of the machine so that one page lay flat while the adjacent page hung down. I doubt that there are any scanners that are arranged that way.
While working on my dissertation I photographed many books with tight bindings and worked out a technique of using clamps and moveable beds to hold the book at the proper angle under the camera in order to photograph a single page. The same technique can be used with camera type scanners or you can photograph the works first and scan the resulting image later.
I once wrote down a description of my photographic technique for capturing images from rare books. If you are interested, I'll try to find it and send it on.
Robert A. Baron Museum Computer Consultant P.O. Box 93, Larchmont, NY 10538 mailto:rabaron@pipeline.com