Category Archives: Glossary

The book cradle is a device that facilitates the digitization, filming or copying of bound originals, for example books, archive files, newspaper volumes or magazines. It ensures that the adjacent pages of bound originals are brought to the same height, regardless of the thickness of the original and regardless of the position at which a bound original is opened. In this way, the same distance to the imaging unit (scanning system) is achieved for both sides, a necessary prerequisite for ensuring optimum scanning results.

In contrast to conventional copiers or flatbed scanners, the book does not lie on a book cradle with the page to be digitized facing downwards, but with the text mirror facing upwards.

There are many different designs of such devices. The decisive factor for selecting the right book cradle is ultimately the material to be processed. Valuable historical materials such as old prints and illuminated manuscripts require a different type of book cradle than modern books, magazines or journals. Likewise, parameters such as condition, state of preservation, binding, or size and weight are often decisive for how far bound materials can be opened at all without causing damage to the binding or spine.

For this reason, a wide variety of book cradles are available to digitize books optimally, also from a conservation point of view. Basically, they can be divided into the following categories:

• Simple book supports made of foam
• Mechanical or motorized book cradles with a 180° opening angle
• Mechanical or motorized V-shaped book cradles that only allow a reduced opening angle <= 110°.
• Mechanical or motorized hybrid systems whose opening angle can be variably adjusted

Depending on the design, professional book cradles also have other additional features that ensure gentle handling of the originals:

Glass plate:As the pages should lie as flat as possible during scanning, book cradles are often equipped with a glass plate that should press the pages of the originals to be scanned as much as possible.

Book spine release: This refers to a special mechanism that is used to set a gap several centimeters wide between the individual support plates of the book cradle, into which the spine can be gently inserted. Modern scanning systems usually allow an adjustment that can be individually adapted to the respective original.

Book spine support: This is a mechanism below the area of the support plates that provides support for the inserted spine and prevents smaller books from slipping through the open gap when the spine is released.

A book support is a simple device to adjust the height for scanning. For this, the bound template lies on two foam sheets. These have to be adjusted and replaced again and again in order to compensate for the height differences that arise between the left and right pages of the book when turning the pages of bound templates.

Advantages:

Inexpensive

Good price-performance ratio for institutions such as small archives which only have to digitize bound documents sporadically.

The book support can simply be put aside when it is not needed.

Disadvantages:

• Not suitable for larger scan jobs
• Cumbersome to use. Many different foam sheets in thickness and width are required to optimally support various templates and materials.
• Often very limited template height
• Limited format width

In contrast to document or passage scanners, book scanners are so-called overhead or reflected light scanners, which were primarily designed for the gentle, contactless digitization of bound documents such as books, journals and magazines. Special components such as gentle light control from above (incident light), a book cradle with book spine exemption and a gentle glass pressure procedure avoid unnecessary stress on the documents during the scanning process and possible consequential damage. Usually, book scanners are also combined with special software that processes the digital copies and allows the user to save them in the desired format.

Book scanners are nowadays used worldwide in the public area of archives, libraries and administrations as a replacement for conventional copier systems (e.g. reading rooms, authorities, law firms, etc.). In addition, they are used in the service sector to process on-demand orders (university interlibrary loan) or extensive digitization projects. In addition to purely manually operated systems, semi or fully automatic scanners (scan robots) are also offered.

Book scanners with modern surface sensor technology are among the most innovative, gentle and reliable systems. They deliver the highest image quality as well as extraordinary scanning speed and image processing processes. In addition to quality and investment security, this can mean considerable time, cost and staff savings, especially when conducting large projects.

In cooperation with the British Library and the National Archives of Sweden, MICROBOX developed the first book scanner in 2006 under the book2net product line. Since then we have continuously expanded our portfolio and today we offer our customers application-specific hardware and software as complete solutions that cover all areas: DIN A5 or DIN A0 format, single sheet or precious handwriting, matt or glossy surface, flat or raised Structures, two-dimensional or 3D objects. From standardized digitization to special applications and professional multispectral photography: the MICROBOX / book2net team offers customer-specific solutions for all areas.

Book spine release refers to a special manually, mechanically or motor-controlled device with which a gap of several centimeters is set between the individual support plates of the book cradle, into which the book spine can be gently inserted. Modern scanning systems usually allow a setting that can be individually adapted to the respective template.
Often, a book spine release is also combined with a book spine support, which supports the inserted book spine from below the area of the support plates. It also prevents smaller books from slipping through the open gap.

Book bindings which are very similar to today’s existed as early as the first century AD.Before, written manuscripts were mainly kept as scrolls. The earliest bound collections of loose leaves are called “codices”. They were collected using Coptic binding, in which several layers of paper are bound together by intertwining a thread.
Then, as early as the 2nd century, books with a soft binding appeared. These early specimens are most comparable to our modern paperbacks; they had either no binding at all or a soft parchment or paper binding. Later, bookbinders began experimenting with wooden bindings, often covered with leather.
The oldest bound book in the Western world is the St. Cuthbert Gospels, dated to the 8th century AD and now a part of the holdings of the British Library. Scientific research, including a CT scan, provided detailed insights into the structure of the book. A clay-like material was found between the leather and the wooden boards, which raised the pattern on the cover.
As medieval bookbinding evolved, staples were added to some books to stabilize them. Similar bindings were found on books with parchment covers. However, since parchment is very sensitive to moisture, books were increasingly bound with cloth.
Nowadays we carry the world’s knowledge around in our smartphones, but in earlier centuries it could only be stored and passed on in books. Between the 13th and 16th centuries, the rate of those who were able to read increased, and this was followed by an innovative way of binding books: the girdle book. These books had a second cover over the leather binding, with which they could be fastened to a belt. This allowed the educated, wealthy bourgeois population to carry books (mainly religious texts) with them at all times.

Over time, books became more and more elaborate. The invention and spread of paper made it possible to produce books in editions that had not been possible before. These continuous developments also required a certain degree of automation in the binding process. In order to keep pace with the increasing demand, both the materials used and the techniques had to be revised. In the course of industrialization in the 19th century, books were no longer bound exclusively by hand. Increasingly, publishers took over the entire process of book making, from printing to binding. Books were printed on brittle paper, and by the end of the century, almost all books received a cloth binding. Many libraries re-bound these books, although nowadays attempts are made to preserve the old bindings.
By the 20th century, bookbinding was fully mechanized and glue replaced thread to hold the pages together. But not everyone was enthusiastic about this. Bookbinders see their craft as an art instead of an industry. To counter this, bookbinders continue to communicate the value of traditional techniques. There are competitions that impressively convey the art of the craft; an art form that always strives for perfection.