The Digital & Online Services department is excited to announce the latest addition to our imaging team! Jade Alderman, our new Digital Imaging Production Assistant, is working with BPL’s recently acquired BC100 camera workstation. This high-resolution book scanning system has two cameras to capture images of both sides of a book simultaneously. The equipment is similar to the stations that the Internet Archive, our digitization partners, utilize at BPL for statewide collections. This new setup provides the library great flexibility for many different types of materials to be digitized at the library. So far, Jade has been working on photographing a variety of bound material — read on for a look at some of her troubleshooting techniques.
Amidst the books I have photographed so far at Boston Public Library, there are differing levels of fragility, print quality, and types of binding. However, I came across a loose-leaf binder and wondered “What is the best way to photograph this under the BC100?”
The BC100 setup (seen above) includes a V-shaped book cradle covered with foam to hold the material, with a corresponding moveable V-shaped glass above. The vertical motion of the glass is controlled by the operator, in order to sandwich books underneath the glass. Overall, the design of the workstation safely photographs materials in various conditions. However, I could not photograph these pages while they were in the binder underneath the glass, as the metal rings could damage the glass. I found an efficient way to photograph these loose pages as if they were a bound book.
As seen in the image below, when you photograph a sheet of paper directly on the foam, it follows the slight bend of the cradle, as the cradle is typically meant to accommodate the spine of a book. This curve can lead to an asymmetrical final image because the material is not exactly parallel to the glass. Furthermore, turning the pages as they lay on the foam can be difficult. When there are hundreds of pages per binder, is it crucial to create more effective and efficient ways to photograph these materials.
I came up with the solution of a mini cradle made of two pieces of foam core to hold the loose-leaf paper in place. This props up the sheets to make them parallel to the glass. It also helps keep the pages in the same place while the glass is raised and lowered. Less movement of the material eliminates time spent cropping and rotating each image. For the mini cradle, I used black foam core so that there would be no color cast through the slightly translucent pages, and black archival tape to eliminate any possibility of damage to the pages.
Once the mini cradle is in place, small foam blocks are placed underneath the sides so that the pages will be pressed to the glass. This ensures the pages are flat in the final images and are presented as if they are in a true book.
At last, we have our loose-leaf binder, scanned under the BC100 in a streamlined and consistent way. These materials will be placed online for anyone to access, and viewers can flip through the digital images as though they are flipping through the physical binder itself.
As with many of the materials digitized at BPL, pages in these binders are often fragile. The sheets may have rips and creases from use and may even be falling out of the binder. By digitizing the work accurately and safely, we are ensuring that the work is widely accessible. However, we are also maintaining the longevity of this object due to decreased in-person handling. It’s wonderful to give these objects a new digital life!
