Book Scanning

Scanning for books, periodicals, magazines, publications and more

Proscan Document Imaging specialises in providing comprehensive book scanning solutions tailored to meet the needs of individuals, businesses, charities, and public sector organisations throughout the United Kingdom. Our dedicated service is designed to preserve valuable literary works and historical documents while unlocking their content for a digital age

Whether it's a single book or an extensive collection, our expert team is equipped to handle the scanning process with precision and efficiency. Utilising state-of-the-art scanning technology, we meticulously capture every page, ensuring the highest quality digitisation possible.

For more information on our book scanning service, please call us on 023 8063 0050 or fill in the quote form here .

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Book scanning advantages

Permanent and safe archiving protection

Digitisation and secure storage of books, magazines, and other periodicals preserves the contents for your current enjoyment and for future posterity. Whereas you may only have one copy of a book which may easily be lost, the digital capture of a book allows multiple copies to be stored in safe locations both on removable media and in the cloud.

Proscan Digital Imaging only uses the very latest book scanning technology when providing our service to our clients. Each page, including the front and back covers, are as important as all the others so to preserve each one, we use a process called “book flipping scanning” to photograph every single page in high resolution.

This process offers additional benefits when digitising damaged books. No-one wishes to damage a book more than it already has been by unnecessary handling. The images taken of each page using book flipping scanning can then be amended digitally to restore the text and any imagery on a page meaning that the digital version of the book you receive is more accessible and clearer than the print version.

Book scanning OCR

When an image is taken of each page, we employ “Optical Character Recognition” technology to “read” the letters and the words. Page by page, the file containing the text is compiled until the process completes and you have a fully digital copy of your book.

Easy accessibility

At the end of the process, you will have your favourite books, magazines, and other periodicals available to read in a computer text format. We offer a number of different options to clients including:

Book scanning to .ePub format
Book scanning to Amazon Kindle format
Book scanning to Flipping Book format
Book scanning to HTML format
Book scanning to iPad or iPhone format
Book scanning to Microsoft Word format
Book scanning to .mobi format
Book scanning to image only PDF format
Book scanning to PDF Searchable format
Book scanning to XML format

Scanning a book to PDF is still the most popular option however we can produce a variety of different storage formats on request.

For example, if we scan to Kindle, Flipping Book, ePub, or Apple format, you can transfer the books and use the reading software on the device to enjoy the contents of your book wherever you are.

Share books by creating digital copies

With your books now in a digitised format, you can share digital copies with friends and family. Where permitted, you may also offer the books for sale via an internet platform as long as you have the permission of the copyright owner or if the copyright on the piece has expired.

Space creation

While many customers choose to have their book returned to them at the end of the process:

others don’t ask for them to be returned,
they ask us to dispose of the book, or
they ask us to store it at our premises for a competitive monthly charge.

Who needs book scanning?

Proscan Document Imaging has been scanning bound books since 2006 using the latest hardware and software to achieve the highest quality outputs with crystal clear fidelity. We’re pleased to share with you that most of our business comes from returning customers and, between them, they’ve told us why the preservation of the written word is uniquely important to them.

Archivists

Particularly for short-run or historic books, archivists can preserve valuable and rare copies of books releasing the text publicly to give researchers, the public, and other interested parties access to the work. Ask us about PDF/A and TIFF formatting.

Authors

For work which may not have been originally authored on a computer or where the original file of the manuscript can no longer be found, authors may choose to digitise a hard copy of their book so that they can re-release their book digital. Ask us about .ePub, .mobi, Word, and PDF conversions.

Collectors

For collectors with large volumes of journals, magazines, and books, we can scan your entire collection for you. This will not only preserve the contents of your collection, it will also make it easier to search for any information that you require from it.

Individuals

If you have books or other publications of particular personal importance to you or your family, you can transfer the contents of your collection to PDF, .mobi, .ePub, and Word formats for archiving and ease of access on your digital devices.

Librarians

As libraries continue their transformation to keep their relevance in the digital age, the distribution of their collections becomes a lot easier and more accessible to the public if they can access digital versions of the work you hold outside opening hours.

Publishers

For publishers with substantial back catalogues where it would not make economic sense to order a new print run of an older title, digitisation of the catalogue followed by a launch onto digital sales platforms could provide additional revenue streams.

Our book scanning service features

What is destructive book scanning?

With destructive book scanning, each page from the title you wish to digitise is separated from its spine using a guillotine. This method produces very high quality scans, turnaround time is fast, and the price per page scanned is the most competitive.

We can still send you the pages back at the end of the process but please be aware that the book will not be in the same condition as it was when you sent it to us.

What is non-destructive book scanning?

With non-destructive book scanning, your book remains completely intact and, if you wish to have it sent back to you, the condition will be virtually identical to as it was before. If your book is expensive, delicate, old, or it holds significant sentimental value, you can rest assured that it will treated with care during the scanning process.

Although the book is not separated, the quality of the scan produced is still very high due to the specialist equipment used to capture the images.

Each book scanning job is individually planned

Upon receiving your books, magazines, periodicals, and other publications, we will plan out the scanning work for each item individually. When we receive a historical or antique book, your project manager will often attempt to perform pre-scan repairs so that the images we capture for conversion are of a higher quality and not obstructed by foreign objects or dirt.

Our book scanning equipment

We continue to invest in the latest technology to provide the highest quality book scanning service including high speed scanners, overhead book scanners, image processing software, OCR software, and indexing software.

Our book scanning service – how it works

We collect from your premises

When you let us know that your book or collection of books is ready to collect, we’ll send around a trusted courier firm to pick them up from you (or we will pick them up ourselves depending on where in the country you’re based). If you need them, please contact us for information on our packaging service and for archive box supplies.

Preparation of document for scanning

When your book or collection arrives at our Southampton premises, the project manager assigned to your job will then inspect each item to determine if colour imaging should be used.

Your document is scanned and digitised

Each book or publication will be scanned into the format of your choice. For primarily text-based books, your manager will also configure the OCR system to enable capture of photographic elements and to transfer the text into a computer file format of your choice.

Digital reproduction delivered securely to you

Upon completion of the work, we then deliver the digitised images to you either in optical format (DVD), on a memory stick, or as a download from a secure FTP site or cloud platform.

Book scanning service UK - FAQ

Can I have the original back?

Let us know what you want when you get in touch with us. We can either return your books to you, or alternatively, we can store them at our premises for a competitive monthly price, or we can dispose of them for you.

Which book formats does Proscan Document Imaging work with?

Proscan Document Imaging works with many types of publication including but not limited to:

Bound volume & book scanning
Catalogue scanning
Historical book scanning
Historical letters and diaries scanning

Machinery manual scanning
Manuscript scanning
Medical journal scanning
Newspaper and magazines scanning

Notebook scanning
Scanning of personal archives of books
Publication scanning
Research paper scanning

If you don’t see what you want on the list, please get in touch with us by calling 023 8063 0050 or filling in the form below.

Does the OCR get every word right?

OCR gets the vast majority of words it processes correct. Occasionally, mistakes may be made if a page within a book has smudges on it or there is something else which obscures the text on a page.

Other issues that you may find with OCR are connected with the layout of text on a page including large first letters at the opening of a chapter.

Book scanning service UK – do you do book scanning near me?

We offer book scanning services to companies, charities, and public sector organisations throughout the UK.

We offer a free in-house collection service to businesses based across Hampshire and beyond including Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Eastleigh, Fareham, Havant, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Winchester.

For customers outside these areas, we use trusted couriers to collect your books and publications from you.

Book scanning service London

We offer a high-quality and reliable book scanning service to our London customers. A trusted courier will collect your books and publications from the address that you specify.

How long does it take to scan a book?

The time need to scan individual books and collections of books varies according to the number of pages which need to be scanned and the method of scanning. A good rule of thumb is 4 to 5 working days, however we’ll give you an estimate when you make your booking with us.

We do accept urgent work and, most of the time, we will endeavour not to charge a premium for this, especially if we have the capacity within the business to turn it around within the timescale required.

Can I not just use a book scanning app and do it myself?

There are a number of book scanning apps available including:

* a MacBook scanning app and
* a book scanning app from Amazon

Despite the advanced hardware used in modern smartphones and devices, the apps themselves contain only rudimentary book scanning software.

In addition, it would be a time-consuming process were you just wanting to scan one book. If that book is large or you have many books you wish to digitise, you would almost certainly need to invest in a book scanning machine to do it quickly and accurately.

Is ProScan Document Imaging accredited?

Proscan Document Imaging has been certified to ISO9001:2015 standard for quality management systems relating to the provision of document scanning.

Book scanning cost

The cost of scanning books, magazines, periodicals, and other publications varies greatly, and it is dependent on a number of important factors including:

the size of the publication,
the age of a publication,
the type of scan needed (colour, grey, or bi-tonal), and
the resolution you wish the outputted images to be at.

To find out more about our book scanning services and to obtain a quote, please call us on 023 8063 0050 or fill in the form below.

ProScan Document Imaging is an established, UK-based book scanning company working with businesses, charities, and public sector organisations across the UK.

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