Helpful Tips For Performing A Yearbook Scanning

By Christine Schmidt


Going down memory lane especially from your high school days is important for the sake of reminding yourself of the good old days or simply make references from the past. With the help of a yearbook, this is made possible and can be easily accessed from the library of the school. To keep these memories alive, most institutions are inclined to do Yearbook Scanning.

Such a detailed book may carry memories for as many as twenty to thirty years in just one book. However, pages are susceptible to getting old, dusty and getting destroyed easily hence the necessity to digitize them. You may have gone through such books that have bad imagery or torn pages due to time and storage. With the presence of improved technology, this is no longer a problem.

Choosing to digitize these books will need you to purchase a scanner. These machines are available in stationery stores going from different sizes with multiple uses. You should be keen when purchasing one, making sure that you get a manual. You will also need to have a storage platform such as a computer. A school library computer will be enough for this work. Make sure you clean the glass surface before you start using it.

The next thing is to take all the photographs and pages that you want to scan and set them aside. To get the best results, all the papers and photographs need to be cleaned. The machine may not be able to produce proper images when the materials are dusty or have dirt. Therefore, use a microfiber cloth to clean them before placing them into the machine.

The next step is to prepare a naming convention. Using the computer that you have, prepare folders designated for each of the years that you have. Make sure that the names and years of each book have been correctly typed. This will help in ensuring there is order and no confusion takes place. It also makes it easier when scanning since you will be doing so while sending the document to a precise destination.

The next step is the placement of the pages and photographs on the machine. When doing so, you need to be detail oriented this means you have to be keen while placing the picture on the glass platform. Usually, the document you are scanning may not fit the whole glass leaving some background color to be seen. To avoid this, use cropping tools of the machine to come up with a fitting material.

If you are to scan more than one photo from the book at once, you will need to properly arrange them on the platform. Ensure that they do not overlap each other or are not aligned. It would be best if you keep a safe distance between each picture, making sure that they have straight edges which can make it easier when you want to use cropping tools.

Being thorough and accurate is necessary. You simply cannot afford to have images being scanned and placed in the wrong folder or having switched captions. This is where the yearbook staff come in handy. Ensure that the people who worked on preparing the books initially will be the same carrying this task as they will all the correct details in place.




About the Author: