How many books are being digitized?
For the first year of the project, we are targeting to digitize around 100,000 monographs - English language and in public domain.
How was the selection process made?
How can I tell if a book is charged out to digitization?
The 7th floor stacks are looking pretty empty. What is happening to the books once they are digitized?
How long will books be unavailable?
Books will be checked out for the project up to 3 months. We hope as all the workflow processes become smoother that the actual time will be shorter.
Will books be damaged or destroyed during this process?
No. The scanning vendor for this project uses a digitization process in which a bound book is placed in a book cradle. Pages are digitized by overhead digital cameras. So, books remain intact. A mechanical arm then turns the pages as the are digitized, and this process is probably more gentle then turning pages with a human hand. We expect all our books to be returned to the shelves in the same condition they were in before scanning.
There is a 2006 book I need to place on course reserve. Is that likely to be charge out to digitization?
No. During the first year of the project we are only digitizing books in the public domain, and we are currently focusing on books published prior to 1923.
When will digitized images be available for us to use?
We expect to start receiving the digitized images in February. The LSDI Access group is in the process of assessing different delivery options. One of the scenarios reviewed involves linking the PDF versions of the books to the Voyager records as they start arriving.
Will there be a cost for using the digitized images?
No. Access to the books both from Microsoft and Cornell site will be free of any charges.