We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive modern day heroes, you guys deserve all the love and praise
Thanks for putting in the hard work to preserve our culture -
@internetarchive real archives do not destroy books.
@canleaf @internetarchive Sometimes libraries will destroy to digitise because it is a lot cheaper to get high quality which means we can make more info accessible with limited budgets - but it would depend on the book and would be after checking to make sure an appropriate number of other copies remain in print. Not the AI companies' slapdash approach.
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive That's fantastic! What do you do with the books after you've scanned them?
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Amazing work but please please please stop using MRC in PDFs.
@gloriouscow @internetarchive i agree. it is frustrating when i download a pdf from the archive and it's one of those. thankfully i think it happens at some optimization step after the scan(?) so the original is retained and some downloads avoid it?
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive I saw a machine that uses a light vacuum to hold the page to the scanner and just kinda scans as it turns the page. There really was no reason for Amazon to destroy books.
Thanks Eliza, your work will ensure preservation for generations to come.
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Amazing work but please please please stop using MRC in PDFs.
@gloriouscow @internetarchive I second this request.
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@internetarchive That's fantastic! What do you do with the books after you've scanned them?
@twifkak @internetarchive I believe they are put in containers in a warehouse in the East Bay:
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive is this the rig described in “The ‘Why’ in DIY Book Scanning”?
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@internetarchive I saw a machine that uses a light vacuum to hold the page to the scanner and just kinda scans as it turns the page. There really was no reason for Amazon to destroy books.
Thanks Eliza, your work will ensure preservation for generations to come.
@MontgomeryGator @internetarchive
Yeah, I've seen ones that turn the pages with a little vaccuum arm and also ones that have a "wedge" shaped scanner that kind of plunges into the half open book and scans as it moves the pages.
Not saying we should put archivists like Eliza out of a job, but making their jobs easier and less tedious is an actual good case for automation.
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive I absolutely love that scanning rig. I want one now. Do you have a design or specs available?
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
The difference between the Internet Archive and the AI jack offs, is that Brewster loves books.
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
AI bros destroy books because it's cheaper than scanning them non-destructively.
AI bros steal potable water from municipalities because it's cheaper than aircooling servers.Something something sharpen the (metaphorical) guillotines, already.
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive Amazing! I operated a scanner, and yeah, it requires patience and a delicate touch -- especially when dealing with historic documents! Thank you for sharing this! (And yeah, watching the scanner operator footage was so #ASMR for me. Bring that back? Please?)
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive and not destroying them in the process for shady legal reasons... amazing.
Thanks for your work !!
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive
Seriously, fuck the muskrat for this and cease-and-desist-ing nitter. -
We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
Because guillotines weren’t meant for books!
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive gods bless all of you for the work you do
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AI bros destroy books because it's cheaper than scanning them non-destructively.
AI bros steal potable water from municipalities because it's cheaper than aircooling servers.Something something sharpen the (metaphorical) guillotines, already.
@rl_dane @internetarchive
I guess they have a point there. We should start thinking like them. For humanity it would be cheaper to use guilliotines... on biollionares 
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We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
@internetarchive
And this is how the bad guys do it: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/08/17/ai-companies-are-buying-and-destroying-antique-books-heres-why/ -
We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/
There's something charming about the meticulous process of scanning books by hand; it feels like a nod to the care that goes into preserving stories for future readers.
