I'd like to scan 100-200 hard and soft bound books so I can have them
as a portable reference.  I don't mind destroying the books in the
process, so my question is what is the best way to remove the bindings
so I can feed the pages into automated scanner.  I would also like
suggestions on what scanners would be best suited for the job.  My
current thinking is to use a power saw to cut of the bindings, but I
fear this might rip the pages at the edge and make it difficult to
feed into a scanner.  Is there a better way to remove the binding
quickly and cheaply?

Hello JonathanClark,

here's a very detailed reference:
"How to Scan a Book" by John F. Adams
http://www.proportionalreading.com/scan.html

To quote his two-minutes way of cutting a book apart:
"The way to cut out the pages of a book is to leave the two covers and
binding in place. Set the book on a piece of scrap wood on the corner
of a table with the bottom cover hanging vertically off the scrap wood
and edge of the table. (...) Lay a straight edge in from the binding
about 1/4" on the first internal page and cut along this guide with a
sharp knife, making several passes. You should be able to free up
about 50 pages before you need to remove these pages and reset the
straight edge."

You will find the whole topic in about the middle of the document
under the heading "Cutting Out Pages".

This article also contains much more information on other parts
involved in the process: how page thickness and see-through pages
affect the scanning, as well as OCR issues. (However since the article
is from 1996, please note while the technical process should be
accurate, software recommendations may well be outdated by now.)

A small side-note; you might want to check if an individual book text
already exists in the Project Gutenberg:
http://promo.net/pg/

Hope this helps!

Search terms:
    "how to scan a book"

---

Request for Answer Clarification by jonathanclark-ga on 31 May 2002 12:59 PDT

Ok, you ansered the main jist of my question so I'll give you 3 stars.
 If you can also answer this, I'll give you 5.

I had asked about suggestions for scanners that would be best suited
for the job.  In particular I'd like to know of scanners that I can
buy that provide automatic feeding, have a decent PPM rate, and can be
run in the background with consuming all my CPU.

---

Clarification of Answer by j_philipp-ga on 31 May 2002 14:07 PDT

Hello again,

I assume black-and-white scanning does the job for you.


For about $5,500, check out the Canon Scanners DR-4080U, providing
automatic feeding, and up to 45ppm:

Scanneroutlet.com
http://www.scanneroutlet.com/pro_scanners_canon.htm

Dicom.com
http://www.dicom.com.pl/products/canon/dr4080u/dr4080u.htm

Alliancegroup.co.uk
http://www.alliancegroup.co.uk/CanonScanners.htm

The Canon product information pages (sorted by region)
http://www.canon.com/products/index.html

Consumer ratings on Canon scanners at Epinions.com:
http://www.epinions.com/cmhd-Scanners-All-139601_Canon-Other


Or maybe you need something much cheaper?

ZDNet Reviews features this HP ScanJet 5490c with a price tag of about
$400:
http://www.zdnet.com/supercenter/stories/overview/0,12069,533079,00.html
"[An] included automatic document feeder turns the scanner into a
truly useful office device."

Or for about the same price, Epson's "Perfection 1640SU OFFICE
Scanner" at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000056PHG/103-1270125-7259054


For consumer reviews on scanners in general, Epinions.com has the
following site:
http://www.epinions.com/cmhd-Scanners-All

----

Also, did you consider letting a local kid do the job for you?

Quote John Carter in the newsgroup alt.comp.periphs.scanner (albeit
from 1997):
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=33e2991d.3523068%40news.mindspring.com&rnum=3
"A 400 page book will cost you $20 at 5 cents per page."

----

Another thought, by Bronkatowski in the thread "OT Book scanning
Question":
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20001027145515.04715.00000119%40ng-fo1.aol.com
"Some [local libraries] have special copiers that are specifically
set up to copy pages out of books."

----

Hope this helps!


Search terms:
    scanner "automatic feeding"
    "book scanning"
    adf scanner

great, thanks!

Which books are you planning to scan, exactly? Anything specifiable,
like a series or a set?

This site already has many books scanned.
Might save you mucho time and trouble.

www.questia.com


Good luck !