University Library Heidelberg – A living Symbol of German Culture
The Heidelberg University has been founded in the 13th century, being among the first higher education institutions in Germany. The Library currently consists of 3 million books and periodicals and 6.800 manusripts, including cultural heritage materials and rare collections. The aim to increase the output of their digitisation centre and the availability level of information for their almost 50000 active users, led them to Qidenus.
The Qidenus Book Scanner suitable for fragile books
The Mastered Book Scan 3.0 A2 was acquired in February 2011. The director of the digitisation centre, Dr. Thomas Wolf explains why the purchase decision fell on Qidenus:
„The main advantages are the high level of automation and the book preserving scan method. The automation of the scan process, caused by the movement sensor, and the efficiently working image post processing define a highly coordinated workflow. The small opening degree of the book cradle and the smoothly moving glass plate give us the needed certainty because many fragile books are involved in our digitization projects.”
Accomplished Goal of Productivity Increase
The Qidenus equipment was very easy to optimally integrate in the library’s digitisation processes. Further information is provided by Dr. Wolf, director of the digitisation centre:
„After a very short start time the machine was ready for production. Then it took 2 weeks of testing the workflow. Afterwards, we started the production with one operator. After three months we instructed three other operators and started the working shifts. At the moment we have four operators working with the Qidenus book scanner, two of them working in production and two in charge of quality control. They are working in two shifts per day”.
„Since the acquisition of the Qidenus book scanner the production of our digitization centre increased of approximately 30 percent” concludes Dr.Wolf.
