Free Equipment Helps Digitize Historic Materials at SCLS

Making material available for internet audiences is a must for research, and wider access to historical documents is a special challenge.  Creating those web based documents, however, can often be a drawn out and expensive process.

At a recent American Library Association Conference, Somerset County Library System (SCLS) Assistant Director Keith McCoy helped to make the process much quicker and more affordable.  After speaking with salespeople from Digital Library Systems Group about a color book scanner made specifically for libraries, McCoy entered his name into a drawing and promptly forgot about it.

A phone call at the beginning of March alerted McCoy and SCLS that his name had been drawn in the contest.  The prize: scanning equipment and software worth approximately $6,600 would be awarded to the library for free.  The machine was set up in mid-March and is already being used to digitize photos and other materials that are a part of the project to capture local Somerset County history: www.mysomersetcounty.org.

SCLS branches also have extensive research materials – photos, letters, rare books, newspaper and magazine articles – that are only available with an appointment in the location where they are stored.  However, the scanning equipment will allow SCLS to scan these often fragile documents and put them on the web, reaching a far wider audience more easily.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for SCLS to help the County tell its history to a much wider audience through the internet,” said McCoy.  “That we are able to have such sophisticated equipment now in-house for free is a real win for everyone throughout the region.”

Electronic Services Librarian Richard Loomis heads up the My Somerset County Project, which is a joint venture with the Somerset County Office of Freeholders.  Residents wishing to add their documents to the collection should contact Loomis at (908) 526-4016 ext. 171 or rloomis@sclibnj.org.  He will also be leading the project to digitize SCLS historic documents.

Patrons with further questions can call SCLS at (908) 526-4016 or visit the website at http://www.sclsnj.org.  The Somerset County Library System has branches in Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill, North Plainfield, Peapack & Gladstone, Somerville, Warren Township and Watchung.