Don Stankavage of the Smithsonian Libraries’ blog Unbound found the perfect opportunity to help book lovers out last month. One of the books in their collection needed to be repaired! “As it was in a very typical state of disrepair, it allowed an opportunity to outline a standard treatment process.”
The post provides a step-by-step how-to on repairing books – the one used in the example was published in 1868! The pictures and captions that make up the bulk of the post are perfect for visual learners. Check it out, and then salvage one of your own books!
Born digital content is easily shared in the online world, but first off, objects need to be digitized. For large collections this can take years but the Smithsonian recently detailed a new digitization process that changes that to thousands of objects per hour!
“The process uses a conveyor belt and a custom-designed 80 megapixel imaging system, making details available to the world that had only ever been seen by a select few. (By contrast, the new iPhone camera has only eight megapixels.) The conveyor belt resembles the ones used by security at airports. Markings on the belt guide team members in placing the sheets. The belt advances when the sheet at the end has been removed. Such equipment has never before been used in the United States.”
Check out the video below for a peek into the process:
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
Don Stankavage of the Smithsonian Libraries’ blog Unbound found the perfect opportunity to help book lovers out last month. One of the books in their collection needed to be repaired! “As it was in a very typical state of disrepair, it allowed an opportunity to outline a standard treatment process.”