GWU Experiments with Robotic Book Digitization

From American Libraries Direct

GWU experiments with robotic book digitization

George Washington University announced November 30 that it will use an automated system to digitize rare Middle Eastern texts from its own library and from that of Georgetown University. The KABIS III machine in the Gelman Library uses a black plastic arm to turn a page, pause as two cameras take pictures of both open pages, and then turn the page again. Air circulates through the arm of the machine, creating a gentle vacuum that can attract a page and guide it from the right side of the book to the left. The machine, purchased from Kirtas Technologies, can photograph up to 3,000 pages in an hour....Wired Campus, Dec. 1; Kirtas Technologies