 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
The Internet has developed into the central platform for the search and further processing of information. That libraries are able to further accomplish their task as a source and an agent of information, there is a demand for new ideas and concepts. Three university libraries in Lower Saxony, Germany meet the challenge of the digital age. They do not only want to take care of their inventory by the introduction of a book scan solution of Zeutschel and Walter Nagel, but primarily want to create technical prerequsites for all kind of digitizing projects. In a conversation the library managers speak about fields of application, special technical features, projects in future and about this what chocolate has to do with modern technology...
Preservation of inventory and new applications
`At the beginning of all consideration to install a top view scanner was the topic `saving of the library`s inventory´, Brigitte Walter, library manager of the Technological Highschool of Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel, reports. There are valuable books in documents available in all three libraries, which partly have been seriously damaged by usage.
`Since the resources for new purchases are low, we had to make sure that valuable large-format publications will be used for a long time´, Helene Julien-Reyelts explains, who is responsible for the library management of the University for Applied Sciences and Arts – Technological Highschool of Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen.
It is now even possible to extend the service offer, e.g. the inter-library loan, with the digitizing of documents, as all three library managers emphasize. Helene Julien-Reyelts: `It is not possible to send documents faster and more directly into the world as it is with the electronic format´. At the same time the solution had to be made in such a way that the users of the library would be able to make their hard copies furthermore, if required, by connecting a high-performance printer to the scanner.
But the project conception of the three libraries goes far beyond the mere preservation of inventory. `The exorbitant increase of information produced by the Internet has caused a deep change in the landscape of the libraries´, Andrea Glöckner explains, who is involved with this development as a library manager of the University for Plastic Arts in Braunschweig.
Conventional methods of information management as the acquisition and the storage of books, essays and magazines will not be sufficient any more. Andrea Glöckner: `To further take advantage of our task as a source and agent of information, we must be open for the new digital possibilities´.
`The available inventory can be used better with electronic tools and it is possible to provide it in various forms. Therefore we still better fulfill the role of the libraries as a service provider´, Brigitte Walter adds.
Therefore for all three managers the book scan solution serves as a technological prerequisite for all kind of digitizing projects, which shall improve the service character of the libraries.
Excellent color reproduction and easy operation
To reach the self-defined project targets, the highest demands were claimed to the wanted scan solution. The artistic and technical orientation of the three universities means for a scanner to be able to even scan difficult originals colorfast up to the A2 format. This includes art books, magazines, posters, technical drawings or building plans.
Apart from the high quality of the scans the criterion ‚easy operation’ had a very high status. `Artists are visual persons, to whom complicated technical refinement is highly suspect. If it is our target to fill this user group with enthusiasm for the new service, the operation of the scan solution must be largely self-explanatory and it must satisfy high quality requirements´, Andrea Glöckner explains.
There is the fact that all libraries have decided to put up the scan solution not in the back room but freely accessible in the user`s area. And all three universities do not have enough personal resources for a time-expensive support of the operation of the solution.
`Our aim was basically to reconcile different interests, that is high quality and extensive functionality with easy handling and rugged technology´, Helene Julien-Reyelts summarizes.
`Square, practical, good´
After an intensive search a decision was made in favor of the book scan solution of the scanner specialist Zeutschel from Tübingen and of the DMS system integrator Walter Nagel. The application consists of the Zeutschel top view scanner Omniscan 8000-3S, of the Zeutschel capturing and image processing software Omniscan Software OS11 and of an additional keyboard, which has been set up by Walter Nagel for the operator needs of a public field of use in libraries.
The Zeutschel Omniscan 8000-3S is a color and gray level scanner for the digitizing of books, magazines and other large format documents up to the format A2. The speed of the scans carried out made a big impression on the three library managers. `Like taking a photograph´, Brigitte Walter remarks and her two colleagues agree nodding.
Apart from its fast speed the scanner convinced primarily by its color-liable sharp image results. Other advantages of the Omniscan software are the practical image processing tools, as e.g. Orthoscan for the correction of the book fold and the automatic removal of black edges.
On the other hand the keyboard developed by Walter Nagel seems to be something unspectacular. But this impression really deceives. `We would not have implemented the complete scan solution without the additional keyboard. The realization of the target of an easy operation was only possible with this keyboard´, Brigitte Walter states on behalf of all library managers.
Each individual key is connected with the most important functions of the book scan solution. The user may determine the sort of output, format and quality by key selection without changing the software`s settings himself.
`Internally we named the additional keyboard after a well-known brand of chocolate, because it has the same qualities: square, practical, good´, Brigitte Walter says and causes general merriment with that.
In five steps to the desired result
Only the harmonic combination of the three elements `scanner, software and additional keyboard´ satisfy the high demand of `making high-performance scanning as easy as possible for everybody´.
What does the operation of the scan solution look like in practice? `Five steps are enough to achieve the desired result´, Andrea Glöckner says with obvious pride.
Step 1: After having switched on the scanner and the PC the user logs into the university network.
Step 2: By pressing the foot pedal the glass plate of the scanner raises and the user can place the documents on the book cradle. The sort of output and the format will then be defined with the additional keyboard. The user may select between ‚Job 1 Print’, ‚Job 2 Save’ and ‚Job 3 E-mail’. The formats are from A5 and A4 up to A3 and A2.
Step 3: The adjustable scan head must then be put to the correct height according to the selected format by the user.
Step 4: With the fourth step the quality of the scan (color, gray or bitonal) will be determined and the cutout to be scanned will be defined. The so-called ‚Orthoscan’ is particularly highlighted with a small book symbol. There the book is automatically deskewed, black edges will be removed and the bulge of the book pages will be smoothened electronically.
Step 5: By pressing the green scan key the job will be carried out. With ‚Job 1 print’ the document will be printed with a connected printer. The ‚Job 2 Save’ saves the data in a predefined directory, either in the university server or in an external memory. There two file formates will be generated: TIF uncompressed and multi- page PDF. In the case of ‚Job 3 E-mail’ the data will be sent directly via the Internet to an E-mail address to be defined.
`The new scan service is free of cost in all three libraries at the moment. The user must only pay for a laser printout. We have consciously selected this solution to get the interest for this new service offer`, Andrea Glöckner adds.
Positive feedback
After a test stage of several weeks the library managers now consider the first results. `There is a positive feedback without exception by the users. Those who have tried out the scan solution once come back again and again´, Helene Julien-Reyelts is pleased.
And this is what all three library managers are particularly satisfied with: the effort of explanation and therefore the stress of the staff of the library is very low. `If there are questions, they are less about technology and operation but about the reflections, which have to be made in advance, as what format has to be selected and what is the optimal scanning quality`´.
There are interesting results presented by the Technological Highschool of Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel concerning the main fields of application. Brigitte Walter: `With 80 % of the jobs the scans are saved on the university server or on a USB stick; 18 % are sent by E-mail and only 2 % of the jobs are printed´. Actually there has been the opposite opinion when planning the project. As an example, Andrea Glöckner mentions the colleagues of the graphic reproduction, which have scanned technical drawings and have taken them to their presentations.
`With that it can be recognized that many students and members of the university willingly accept the possibilities of the electronic processing´, Brigitte Walter feels confirmed in her service concept.
The presence gives reason for optimism. And nobody is worried even for the next years, on the contrary: concrete plans for the future are already available. A first big complex of topics are `online services´. The Technological Highschool of Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel already uses the scan solution for the inter-library loan on a small scale. Brigitte Walter: `We are now able to deliver magazine essays quickly and uncomplicated, even in color if required. Most enquiries are from Germany, but again and again from abroad as recently from Belgrad´.
All managers expect a great field of application for the so-called ‚campus services’ between decentralized libraries, which however are part of an organization unit. `No matter how decisions regarding the exchange of information will be made in future, we are placed very well with the scan solution to meet the most different specifications´, says Helene Julien-Reyelts relaxed.
‚Digital semester apparatus’ is the next keyword which is mentioned again and again. The idea behind it: `Instead of senselessly copying a thick document folder completely at the start of the semester, our students shall soon get an electronic access to the articles and essays which are most important for the visit of lectures and seminars´, Andrea Glöckner explains.
Thereby the library manager also hopes for a pedagogical effect: `We also want to offer our students the specific handling with information´. At the same time the possible applications will also be extended by the fact that images and graphics will be made available in the digital folders for further processing.
All three library managers don`t really have a lack of ideas. There is almost the impression that the future of the libraries will only be digitally. Asking for that future vision, Brigitte Walter smiles: `The physical stock of books will always play an important role. But we have opened for the digital possibilities to guarantee the future of the libraries. And we are prepared very well with the new book scan solution of Zeutschel and Walter Nagel´.
The users
Libraries of the Technological Highschool of Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel, the University for Applied Science and Arts – Technological Highschool of Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttigen and the University for Plastic Arts of Braunschweig.
The courses of study include Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering as well as Law and Economy, Social Sciences and Health or Open Arts, Esthetics, Media Research and Communication Design.
The documents to be processed include books, essays, magazine articles, graphics, posters, technical drawings and building plans of the most different formats: from A5 and A4 up to A3 and A2. The Academy of Arts in Braunschweig alone has a library stock of 50.000 monographs.
The solution
The Zeutschel color and gray level top view scanner Omniscan 8000-3S is used for the digitizing of the library documents. A modern triple exposure technology with surface sensor allows scans with sharp image results and without color interpolations. Other performance features of the Omniscan 8000-3S are a high-performance optical system corrected without distortion and its high productivity at a processing time of appr. 3 seconds.
The Zeutschel scan control and image processing software Omniscan 11 offers practical functions like Orthoscan for the equalization of the book fold, the automatic removal of black edges and the saving of all scanned documents in a multipage PDF file.
The keyboard developed by the DMS integrator Walter Nagel himself guarantees an easy operation of the book scan solution. The user himself determines important scan functions with a keystroke, as e.g. sort of output, format and quality without having to change any settings in the software.
|
|
