For offering knowledge accessibility to all, the National Library of France decided to facilitate cultural heritage access to its audience. A recognized civic engagement but the public library sees its limits with the use of photocopiers: the old or bound books wore out quickly (face down, crushing) and you can’t see what is printed or scanned. It is clear that a image capture from the top is the most suitable technique. Thus, from 2009, the National Library of France becomes the first public institution in the world to equip themselves with eScan Open System book scanners, innovative scanning solutions developed by i2S respectful of all works, for replacing photocopiers.
Through the outsourcing company Sedeco, the National Library of France is equipped first – in 2009 – with 12 eScan book scanners first generation, the first self-service book scanner on the market easy to use and ergonomic. Installed on 4 sites of the National Library of France, these 12 scanning solutions allow the public to ask a local operator to make a copy of an excerpt of a work in high-quality then printed (single output mode authorized by the institution at that time).
The + : digitization up to A3+ format, easy to move, combersome, can be installed on any support
With the success of its service, the National Library of France decided in 2014 to renew its outsourcing park, and to increase the number of scanners. Appreciating the features already existing in the eScan first generation, the library therefore wishes to change the use of scanners leaving some with direct access to readers (scanning by ourself). To accommodate both public heterogeneous users and a wide range of works, the imposed criteria for choosing a scanner were:
Real time preview
Limb Capture Self-Service
Limb Capture Self-Service interface installed on eScan Open System for digitizing in complete tranquility
Scanning area up to 560 x 400 mm (22” x 15.7”)
Multiple outputs: Printing (book scanner connected to any printing machine) and back up on any USB key existing on the market
Directly paying the copy (book scanner connected to a card reading machine)
Digitizing in color or in grey
Despite the evolution of smartphones’ performances and strong competition in book scanner, i2S and its partner Spigraph [1] have gained again SEDECO’s confidence and installed 18 eScan Open System book scanners (new generation) on the 4 same sites of the National Library of France, including 9 scanners in total self-service on the Tolbiac site.
