Digitization

Shain Library provides hardware, software, and support for digitizing a wide range of physical materials and making them accessible. Resources and services listed on this page are available to all faculty, staff, and students.

Members of the College community who digitize files on their own should be aware of the College’s copyright policy, which states that “individuals who willfully disregard College policy and guidelines do so at their own risk and assume all liability.”

Digitization of Print Materials

Shain Library is home to a state-of-the-art self-service book scanner called the KIC Bookeye 4 v2 located on the main floor of the library behind the Reference Desk. Additional document scanning equipment is available in the Digital Scholarship and Curriculum Center: Epson Expression 10000 XL flatbed (11”x17”), Epson Perfection V850 Pro flatbed (8.5”x14”), Epson ES-400 autofeed (8.5”x11”), and a Plustek OptiBook 4800 book scanner.

Book Chapter Digitization Service

The digitization service scans chapters of print materials held by the Connecticut College libraries and delivers these documents in PDF format with OCR to current Connecticut College faculty, staff, and students.

To request a PDF, please follow these steps:

  1. Log in to OneSearch,
  2. Search for the book you would like to request a chapter from.
  3. Click on the record for the book you need a chapter from, then click the “Request Digitized Chapter” link, and fill out the subsequent form.
    1. If you can’t find the book you need in OneSearch, please place an interlibrary loan request for the chapter you need or contact a reference librarian for assistance with searching OneSearch.
    2. Email circlibr@conncoll.edu with any questions.
    1. You'll receive an email with a link to the scanned article or book chapter as soon as the article or book chapter has been scanned.

    Requests will be processed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

    Service Limitations and Guidelines

    • Requests are limited to two total chapters, or 10 percent, of a volume per patron.
    • Scans are created at 300 DPI. PDFs include standard OCR (text searchable).
    • This service is limited to the library’s current print collection. If we do not own an item, we may be able to acquire it in print or electronic format; send an email to isacquisitions@conncoll.edu to make a request.
    • If we can't fill your request, you may also request chapters through the interlibrary loan
    • We will notify you when a request exceeds our scanning limits.
    • Library staff members reserve the right to refuse a scanning request if, in their judgment, fulfillment of the request would involve a violation of copyright law.
    • If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a reproduction in excess of fair use, that user may be liable for copyright infringement under U.S. copyright law,
    • If you have questions, please email circlibr@conncoll.edu.

    Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Accessibility

    Document scanning equipment and software can be used to create machine readable PDF documents. Some scanning equipment includes OCR at the point of digitization, such as the KIC Bookeye Scanner. For already digitized documents that require OCR, faculty and staff may download and use Adobe Acrobat Pro. ABBY FineReader is available in the Digital Scholarship and Curriculum Center.

    Digitization of Microform, Film, and Slides

    Shain Library is home to a state-of-the-art self-service microform (microfilm & microfiche) scanner called the ST ViewScan III. Digitized files can be uploaded directly to Google Drive or saved to a USB drive. Additional document scanning equipment is available in the Digital Scholarship and Curriculum Center: Epson Perfection V850 Pro (35mm film, 35mm slides, and some larger film formats) and a film light table.

    Digitization of Video and Audio

    The Digital Scholarship and Curriculum Center contains equipment to digitize DVDs, VHS tapes, Blu-Ray discs, M-DISC, Laser Discs, Hi8 and Digital8 cassettes, DV cassettes, and MiniDV cassettes. Audio equipment, connected to an Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt audio interface, can be used to digitize audio from audio cassettes, DAT cartridges, reel-to-reel tapes, and vinyl records (12” LPs, 7” 45rpm, 78rpm). Please contact staff for assistance.