Posts Tagged ‘Scanning’
Preservation vs. Access: Understanding the Difference
In conversations about digitization, two words surface again and again: preservation and access. They are two sides of the same coin, and understanding the distinction is essential for any organization responsible for safeguarding information, history, or institutional memory. Whether you are responsible for archival collections, government records, academic libraries, or corporate documents, long-term success depends on finding the right balance between the two. Preservation ensures that materials will be available for future generations, while access allows people to use and…
What Is Digital Preservation?
An Introduction to Long-Term Access, Authenticity, and Sustainability in Digitization Projects
Many people use the terms digital preservation and digitization as if they mean the same thing, but they are quite different. Scanning a document or converting film to a digital file is just the beginning. True digital preservation is what keeps that file accurate, accessible, and usable for years—sometimes decades—into the future. For organizations that care for records, archives, or cultural heritage collections, digital preservation is essential. It is the foundation that protects the investment in digitization and ensures that…
Mount Vernon’s Digital Decade:
10 Years of Scanning Projects with The Crowley Company
Nearly 10 years after The Crowley Company’s (Crowley) original blog on digitizing collections with George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the two institutions continue to share the legacy of George and Martha through digital preservation. Since then, Crowley has assisted in six Mount Vernon scanning projects (producing over 20,000+ digital images). While the materials have changed and the technology has advanced, the process and partnership have remained constant. In honor of the first ever State of the Union address (given by George…
Innovating Tradition: Belmont University’s Special Collections Digitization
Belmont University Scans School and Alumni History using the Zeutschel OS C Book Scanner Established in 1890 in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee, Belmont University began providing women with not just an education but a platform for cultural, intellectual and social development. In doing so, the university set what would become its legacy for innovation and embracing change. The university’s latest step towards technological innovation — the purchase of a Zeutschel OS C overhead book scanner — both advances the…
From Gunsight Cameras to Microfilm Scanners to Whatever’s Next: Mekel Technology plays on for nearly 50 years
You’re channel surfing and a movie catches your attention. You’ve missed the beginning but you pick up enough to be thoroughly engaged and end up watching the whole thing. Ever happen? That’s a good analogy for my journey with Mekel Technology (Mekel). I’ve worked at The Crowley Company for over a decade and know a fair amount about our Mekel product line, but I missed the beginning. With the advent of Mekel 2.0, the latest iteration of Mekel Technology scanner…
30 (Days); 9 (Industries); One (Chance to Win): A Month in Crowley Scanner Sales
In our little corner of the blogosphere, we love to “zoom in” on a single client’s hardware or imaging services digitization journey. Rarely do we “zoom out” and look at the various vertical markets that make up Crowley’s diverse client base. Each scanning story we’ve told so far is a tile in the larger mosaic of Crowley’s vast market reach. If I give the complete rundown of four decades of Crowley sales, this blog will be 17 pages long and I’ll lose my…
Life in the Fast (Scanning) Lane: Digitizing History Rapidly with the UScan+
If there is one thing you can say about Kenneth Shelton, it is that he is passionate about history . . . specifically, the history of his family’s hometown in South Carolina. This was remarkably clear to me when I first read about the volunteer scanning work Ken has been doing for the Fairfield County South Carolina Museum and Historical Society. We’re celebrating American Archives Month by sharing the story of Ken’s digitization efforts and dedication to preserving the past….
Road Scanner, Part Two
Last week, we shared the story of Overland Conversion and their traveling Zeutschel OS 12000 overhead scanner. Weighing in at over 550 pounds when crated and needing a trailer for transport, the 12000-series does not easily fit the category of “portable.” And yet Chris Irelan and his firm have found a way to make quality imaging-on-the-go successful, traveling the states of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri, and Arkansas. Curious about the concept of taking the large format scanner (affectionately nicknamed…
Speaking Greek in the Service Bureau
When I told my parents I wanted to join a sorority years back (the exact number a closely guarded secret), the response was swift: “Why?” Years later, I have occasion to pose the same question (with far less incredulity) to a few of the Greek letter organizations that have chosen to digitize their correspondence and photo collections with Crowley Imaging. It became quickly apparent that the answer is far more credible than my own had been. As Wikipedia aptly describes,…
OCR? ICR? IWR? OMG! Get the Most from Your Scanned Text
In celebration of last Friday’s National Handwriting Day, I decided to write a blog about Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Only when researching it for this blog did I discover that OCR actually has nothing to with handwriting, once again proving how little I really know about the vast imaging industry (despite the approach of my second anniversary with the company). It was then that I discovered ICR and IWR. More on that later. In layman’s terms (which is more my…