Digitization: A Bright Future for Library Automation
Posted by Lynette Maldonado on Mon, Jul 25, 2011 @ 09:04 AM
By: Katie Williams, Market Analyst, EOS International
Digitization is the act of creating digital images from paper documents, books, or photos. What is library digitization and why is it so important for the future of libraries? Just about everything is going digital these days. However, much of the content in libraries is still in paper form. This is why libraries must digitize as much of their content as possible in order to make their information more readily accessible by their patrons. For example, when a patron searches for a particular title, the search result is bibliographic information for the title attached to a picture of the book jacket. The picture of the book jacket has been digitized. Libraries around the world are using EOS.Web Digital to efficiently manage items in their collection.
The first item that is necessary for digitization is a scanner. The most important thing to remember is that in order to achieve a successful digital product one must become familiar with the features of your scanner. Another useful tool for digitizing library content and information is a digital camera. A digital camera works much like the scanner. The only difference is that you can easily view the digital images before downloading them into your computer. Other important aspects of digitization include an understanding of resolution, pixels, color vs. gray scale, and file formats of the digitized image. In order to be successful, The Digital Library Foundation recommends that anyone wanting to digitize should take a closer look at their Website - www.diglib.org.
Digitization can be a challenging and detailed process for any library. As a diligent Market Analyst for EOS International, I now value even more the benefits of digitization and appreciate the hard work that goes into our EOS.Web Digital product. This is the future of library automation: streamlined, efficient, functional and affordable. For more information about digital library automation, I highly recommend our newly published book, “The Digital Library Survival Guide” by Joseph R. Matthews.