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November 28, 2006
First in the Nation: TTU Libraries Acquire High-Speed Book Scanner
The Texas Tech University Libraries has announced the purchase of a state-of-the-art book scanner that will drastically change the way personnel archive the world's information.
The BookScan APT 2400, manufactured by Kirtas Technologies Inc., a leading provider of digital scanning solutions, was funded in part with a $130,000 grant from the Lubbock-based Helen Jones Foundation.
It is the first of its kind to be purchased by a university in the United States.
The $200,000 piece of equipment allows personnel to scan case-bound books in minutes instead of hours, speeding up the digitization process – one of the library’s objectives in its push to provide access to scholarly works via the Internet.
“The average individual scans books at a rate of about 100 pages per hour,” said Greg Barnes, digital projects coordinator at Texas Tech Libraries.
“The Kirtas scanner cradles the book, automatically turns the pages and captures text and high-resolution images, graphics, photos, charts and engravings exactly. The machine’s proprietary software then cleans up the images and the integrated OCR makes the images more usable by adding full-text search capability. The process is more delicate than the touch of a human hand.”
The robotic Kirtas scanner turns book pages with a vacuum head, delivering puffs of air that lift and separate pages. Books are secured on a cradle that uses laser technology to maintain focus for dual, 16-megapixel cameras that capture high-resolution page images in color. Because it uses picture technology rather than scanning technology it operates faster than it’s scanning counterpart, said Barnes.
Library faculty, staff and students will be trained to put the scanner to work on a growing list of digitization projects that will bolster Texas Tech’s online resources for students, faculty and researchers. Starting with more than 14,000 thesis and dissertations dating back to 1928, the bound documents will be digitized and formatted with high quality imaging, two pages at a time, and up to 2,400 pages per hour. The machine also includes optical character recognition (OCR) capability to enable full text searching.
“The impact of this machinery is both dramatic and immediate,” said Donald Dyal, Ph.D, dean of libraries. “Of course, it makes it much less tedious for people who must now turn each page to scan a volume. Do the math and you can see the benefits in labor costs and time. But, the larger implication is that it allows us to ramp up our efforts to preserve materials quickly and to make them readily available to patrons via the online catalog—beefing up Texas Tech’s position as a major player in the propagation of scholarly works across the globe. The Helen Jones Foundation clearly saw the value of this new capability and we are grateful for that.”
The digital initiative began in 2004 when administrators saw the need to replicate physical holdings for preservation purposes and to make out-of-copyright materials accessible to offsite patrons such as Texas Tech distance learning students.
As a founding member of the Texas Digital Library (TDL), which includes Texas, Texas A&M, and the University of Houston libraries, Texas Tech’s library system is making its institutional archives available electronically through the consortium. As TDL membership grows, the state’s public and private university’s are ensuring that the unique collections of member schools are widely available to anyone with a web browser. Digital categories called Metadata are added to each item, allowing searching by keywords, contributors, added titles and other significant access points.
“We want this machine to be running 24-hours a day—seven days a week,” said Dyal. “The less downtime the better; there is certainly enough work out there to keep it humming.”
CONTACT: Jeff Whitley, director, Texas Tech Libraries, at (806) 742-2236, or jeff.whitley@ttu.edu.
Texas Tech Libraries
Texas Tech boasts some of the finest libraries in the nation, including the University Library, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, the Vietnam Archive and other targeted libraries such as law and architecture.
It is the University Library’s vision is to be a research library of international stature. The vision is being accomplished by welcoming innovation and adapting to a constantly changing academic and information environment.
The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library is home to the University Archives, the Archive of the Vietnam Conflict and the Library’s Rare Books Collection. The University Library’s Rare Books Collection has grown from less than 100 items to a separate department with 38,000 volumes which include not only first and signed editions but also letters, diaries and other personal materials.
The Vietnam Archive has received national recognition with their mission to support and encourage research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam experience. It is also their undertaking to promote a greater understanding of this experience and the peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia.
Dang Thuy Tram, a North Vietnamese surgeon, was killed during a battle in northern South Vietnam in 1970. She was 27 years old. Tram’s diaries have captured the hearts of an international audience and became a bestselling book. Read her poignant story.
Related
Helen Jones Foundation
Helen DeVitt Jones was an active philanthropist and donated much of her wealth to the fine arts, culture and education. Her contributions to Texas Tech University helped to fund major aspects of the university. She died in September of 1997.
An Inventory of her papers, 1944-1995 and undated, is part of the Texas Tech's Southwest Collections Library.
See the Helen DeVitt Jones Auditorium and Sculpture Court.
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