Scanning text: an example from the Manitou Messenger
Please contact the DAM Committee if you have questions about getting started scanning.
Please review some Best Practices documents to familiarize yourself with scanning challenges and standards.
- Minnesota Digital Libraries: Our neighbor in the Cities: They have a state-wide digitization program: www.mndigital.org/digitizing/standards/
- Claremont College's Best Practices: They are an academic leader in digitizing collections. ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/inside/CCDLScanningBestPractices.pdf
To give you an idea of what is involved in scanning a text project, here are the instructions to the student scanners for the Manitou Messenger project. This document outlines the goals of the scanning, and the priorities that scanners need to have when approaching their work for this project. Each scanning project will have different goals and challenges. Please contact the DAM Committee if you have questions.
Our Mission
Our goal is to have really clean scans with the text as close to parallel as possible. Speed isn't the main goal because an unusable scan is a scan that needs to be redone and no one wants to do that!
The reason for scanning pickiness is: the file we generate from the scan will be fed into a fancy piece of software that will enable us to keyword search the text that you are scanning. That means your grandkids will be able to search the book you are scanning, long after the book turns to powder.
Take a look at Overview of Scanning Instructions.
Finding where to start to scan
Before you can scan an issue, check the slightly crumbly book on the counter. There should be a bookmark that the last person scanning placed in the book to show where they stopped working.
Also, check the list of filenames in the Scanned Images folder on the C: Drive. Use the Sort Function on the filenames to see where the last person left off. Also check the date the file was created to make sure they run in chronological order.
The filenaming convention we use is complex, so give yourself time to figure out where the real end of the scanning work truly is.
For info about the Filenaming convention, go to Naming the File.
Why are the filenames so complicated?
The filename is actually encoded to allow us to skip a lot of data entry. This encoding will allow the computer to automatically generate a title and have all the details of issue, volume, month, year and page number. This means less data entry for everyone. But it is tricky to learn at first. Relax, with practice, it will make sense. Ask loads of questions if you need more info.
About the Scanner
See Scanning pages for Manitou Messenger for more info on the details of scanning.
