4 Feb
2002
4 Feb
'02
5:16 a.m.
On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Tothwolf wrote:
But maybe there are devices or even companies
specialized on scanning
microfiche? - How would you load this information into an electronic
archive on MO disks, for example?
Some years ago, a friend of mine managed to get a couple of frames
printed off these fiches, but the results weren't too good: poor
contrast was the main problem. If you'd scan these prints, the results
would certainly be unreadable.
I've researched it, but I found no affordable solution other than buying
a
fiche printer.
Actually, there are two somewhat-affordable solutions, if
I haven't missed too much of the discussion (Hotmail has
a habit of throwing away good stuff while keeping all the
junk mail).
I was faced with the same problem a couple of years ago:
digitizing for publication several hundred pages of journal
papers from the first quarter of the last century of the
previous millenium. All I had were dreadful xeroxes and
almost-as-dreadful microfiches.
I found that a local university (San Diego State) had a
gem - a microfiche/film viewer/printer/scanner which sat
unused 99% of the time. The value of course was that the
scan was sent to a PC, where it could be saved to floppy
disk. It lacked the ability to transfer by cable, the OCR
software was absent (wouldn't have made much difference in
my application, considering the age of the original documents),
and the staff knew next to nothing about the machine or its
abilities, and cared less. My offer of technical assistance
to bring it up to its capabilities were met with total
indifference.
However, I spent many agonizing hours scanning my fiche,
transferring to my laptop, proofing. Thank Dog for CD
players! The images cleaned up reasonably well with
Photoshop.
The other solution is a small device made by Anacomp
(www.anacomp.com). It is a small desktop scanner (footprint
about half a square foot) which will digitize fiche and
even microcards (those white opaque precursors to microfiche).
Anacomp has just exited Chapter 11, and a quick browse of
the website finds the ImageMouse still available with a
follow-on product. Not cheap, but you can likely find a
university or service bureau with the device.
Anacomp also provides a wide range of document services.
Details of these devices escape me at the moment. If of
interest, I can look them up.
Vern (who lurks for lack of time to participate)
vernon_wright(a)hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com