High Volume Book Block Scanning

Offset printing is prohibitively expensive for low volume books, causing titles to go out of print. E-commerce exacerbates this problem by offering immediate and unlimited selection. While digital printing delivers low volume books that are cost effective and immediately available, digitizing hard copy for digital printing remains prohibitively expensive and slow. We describe a cost effective and scalable workflow, based on two years of research, development, and production, that enables low skill operators to digitize hundreds of book blocks per week. This workflow integrates the production consistency of manufacturing processes with original image quality techniques, culminating in superior digital output.