In July, Dickinson has acquired a new scanner imported from Germany, called the Zeutschel OS 12002. This scanner is one of the few in the country, and was introduced to Dickinson College archivist Jim Gerencser about ten years ago.

Located in the lowest level of the library, this digital, high-performance scanner helps the Dickinson Library Staff to scan Alumni magazines, student publications and honorary theses, among other documents. With two high performance cameras at the top of the machine, the scanner is able to turn these important prints into digital images, which can then be uploaded to the Dickinson Scholar database, and are completely text-searchable. So far, one dozen scholars have been given permission to use the scanner for the publicity of their works, which have been viewed online collectively over 100 times. Without the scanner, such publicity would have never been possible.

Prior to digitalizing a scholar’s work, Dickinson has to receive the scholar’s permission. Once permission is granted, the scanning process is completed by trained student and faculty library workers. In addition to making texts digital, the scanner also functions at high speed, enabling 300 pages per hour to be scanned.

Student Library Supervisor Jerome Stoner ’15 offered up some feedback about the scanner. He said, “Even though it is massive and very expensive [at a price of $40,000], the premise is really great. We are using it for projects such as the Digital Scholars Project and for the Carlisle Indian School.”

When asked what he believes the effect of the scanner will be, Stoner added, “It will make lots of information available to many more people, especially to the public. Even though the scanner cost a lot of money, it will be worth it later on as it is used more and more.”

This movement to digitalization will ultimately help Dickinson reach out to the global community, as digital publications can now be seen around the world. Once the scanner is used more frequently, increasing publications will be viewable. Although this scanner is off limits to public use, individuals may ask for special requests to have certain, approved texts digitalized using the scanner.