“You do realize no one else is doing anything like this…”

It was the first time Victoria Duncan, Digital Projects Coordinator for the Indianapolis Public Library, had visited CDS since we had installed three additional book scanning stations. The “this” to which she was referring was a huge 1920s scrapbook filled with nearly 600 fragile, deteriorated newspaper clippings glued in overlapping layers, sometimes a dozen or more per page.

Because of its condition and complexity, the book presented major challenges to the scanning team. However, CDS employee Holly Fruin was up to the task. She took the initiative to purchase a sheet of Plexiglass and had it cut into nearly invisible strips she could use to hold back each layer as she imaged what lay beneath it. The resulting high-resolution color scans—sometimes ten or more per page—preserve the appearance of the original scrapbook while allowing each article to be clearly read. The process was tedious and time-consuming, but the results are worth it.

The scrapbook is just one of the hundreds of historical books Crossroads Document Services is scanning as the partner for the Indianapolis Public Library for a project funded by the Lilly Endowment. Under this project, CDS will spend the next three years digitizing early records from the Indianapolis Public Schools, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and the Indianapolis Firefighters, to create a major historical archive documenting much of the early infrastructure of the City. Since February, CDS has scanned over 58,000 pages of IPS records, mostly historical bound books.

Learn more about our capabilities as they relate to document services

View our capability statement for document services