Could you explain what the large scale digitisation project consists of in terms of techniques, equipment, etc?
– One of our projects consisted in the digitisation of 23 million pages of 19th century books, and that equates to about 80,000 volumes. This is what we describe as a mass digitisation project and so the workflow consists in getting the material stored in the basements of the British Library into the digitisation studio for a digital capture, a post-processing and then making the digital resource available to users. We do this by using a digital capture device built as a V-shaped cradle with two high end digital cameras mounted above. As the book sits in the cradle, you’re capturing the two facing pages at once. The additional benefit of this device is its automated page-turner consisting of a head that comes in minimal contact with the pages. This is possible thanks to a small curtain surrounding the head which creates a vacuum in its interior and is able to turn the pages. With this system our productivity can reach up to four times more than with a person turning the pages manually;
