Book scanning: Difference between revisions
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'''Book scanning''' is the process of converting physical [[book]]s into [[e-book|electronic books]] (e-books) via image scanning. This is a much less time-intensive method than re-typing all of the text; before scanning became feasible, re-typing was generally the only option. For physical books to be scanned into e-books, they must be scanned and then have [[optical character recognition]] (OCR) or similar methods applied to make the images into text. Alternatively, the books can be stored in an image-type format like [[Portable Document Format]] (PDF) or [[Tagged Image File Format]] (TIFF) and accessed with programs like |
<noinclude></noinclude>'''Book scanning''' is the process of converting physical [[book]]s into [[e-book|electronic books]] (e-books) via image scanning. This is a much less time-intensive method than re-typing all of the text; before scanning became feasible, re-typing was generally the only option. For physical books to be scanned into e-books, they must be scanned and then have [[optical character recognition]] (OCR) or similar methods applied to make the images into text. Alternatively, the books can be stored in an image-type format like |
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[[DjVu]], [[Portable Document Format]] (PDF) or [[Tagged Image File Format]] (TIFF) and accessed with programs like Lizard Tech's |
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[http://www.lizardtech.com/download/dl_options.php?page=viewers Web browser plug-ins] and [[Adobe Reader]]. |
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==Commercial book scanners== |
==Commercial book scanners== |
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Revision as of 11:28, 14 March 2007
Book scanning is the process of converting physical books into electronic books (e-books) via image scanning. This is a much less time-intensive method than re-typing all of the text; before scanning became feasible, re-typing was generally the only option. For physical books to be scanned into e-books, they must be scanned and then have optical character recognition (OCR) or similar methods applied to make the images into text. Alternatively, the books can be stored in an image-type format like DjVu, Portable Document Format (PDF) or Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) and accessed with programs like Lizard Tech's Web browser plug-ins and Adobe Reader.
Commercial book scanners
Commercial book scanners are not like normal scanners; these book scanners are usually a high quality Digital camera with light sources on either side of the camera mounted on some sort of frame to provide easy access for a person or machine to flip the pages of the book. Some models involve V-shaped book cradles, which provide support for book spines and also center book position automatically.
The advantage of this type of scanner is that it is very fast, compared to the productivity of overhead scanners. Compared with traditional overhead scanners whose prices normally start from USD10,000 upwards, this type of digital camera-based book scanner is much less expensive. Some of the known commercially available solutions include the BookDrive DIY scanner.
Book scanner of this kind can support large formats up to A1. Some book scanners use black and white video cameras to improve the sharpness of image.
Book scanning by organisations on a large scale
Projects like Project Gutenberg, Google Book Search, and the Open Content Alliance scan books on a large scale.
One of the main challenges to this is the sheer volume of books that must be scanned, expected to be in the tens of millions. All of these must be scanned and then made searchable online for the public to use as a universal library. Currently, many books are scanned by low cost labor in India or China. Other methods are using robots to flip book pages as well as cutting off the book's spine and scanning the pages in an automatic scanner. Once it is scanned, the data is either entered manually or via OCR, a major cost of the book scanning projects.
Due to copyright issues, most scanned books are those that are out of copyright; however, Google Book Search is known to scan books still protected under copyright unless the publisher specifically excludes them.
See also
External links
- Digital camera-based book scanning solution
- Wired Article on Amazon Book Scanning
- USA Today article on robotic book scanning machine
- New York Times article on book scanning and the universal library
- Quality criteria and testing procedures for book scanners
- Library of Congress to digitize brittle books