Modernising The Old - Choosing The Right Book Scanning Company

Books have been around for centuries and we''re sure that they''ll continue to be around for centuries more.

Despite an increasing number of people buying the likes of the iPad and the Kindle, there''s still a certain something about a book. Akin to a computer geek playing with a Commodore 64, people who read books are aware that there are modern alternatives out there, but choose not to adapt with others. A lot of this is to do with the romanticism of books and the feel of the paper in their hands as they turn page after page.

However, even the purists out there will have to admit that digitising books is an important process, if not for making books available to all, wherever they are and whatever they are doing, but for the sheer fact that classics need to be preserved.

Book scanning has been increasingly popular over the years with books going out of publication and coming back into demand, the only real way to get them digital for republishing and internet distribution through eBooks is to get them scanned, OCR''d and made digital that way.

As someone who has worked at a book scanning company for a number of years, I can tell you that I have seen some old and amazing books passing through, falling apart and brought back to life through a simple and inexpensive service like this. We have brought old bibles back to life, long forgotten novels getting a second breath of life, beautiful editions that would have been lost to time otherwise. So the main question is how do you select a good book scanning company to digitise your older and perhaps more fragile publications.

Well the first thing you would want to do is call around a number of companies asking them about the process and how they would go about scanning your books. Instinct is a good friend to you when it comes to services like this, so you''ll be able to get a good idea of who would do a good job and who wouldn''t.

It''s also advisable to visit the company if this is possible for you to see their equipment and how they go about the work. The majority of decent book scanning companies out there will have specialist book scanners which are meant to do the job individually and with great care. The process will take a little longer, but the results are usually excellent.

These types of book scanners take photographs from above the book, rather than a conventional scanner, which scans from below, and from some distance, ensuring that as little possible effect of the high volume lighting has any effect on your book, like a standard scanner might. So ask about their equipment and see what they have. This is also a great time to say that it''s not always best to go with the cheapest service, unless they are offering them same service for less. Using a contentionalflat bed scanner will be of a lesser charge for you, but as we say this isn''t always the best option.

Checking their credentials is usually also a great idea. The ISO 9001:2000 is a particularly good accreditation to have, if not one of the best, as it ensures that all work is carried out to the highest possible standard and is assessed by an official third party for the industry, the ISO.

Before you commit, you must also get a free sample of your book. Just a couple of pages or so, but this will give you an excellent indicator of what you can expect from the scanning as a whole.

Check us out by clicking the following link, or give us a call on 0161 832 7991.