As major assignments come up, students and professors often have to utilize the functions of scanning devices. This blog will give you insights about the availability of different scanners in the library, as well as the main functions that each of them serves.

 Our preferred scanning station is located in the MDS room (Library, Rm 135).

The station has two scanning devices, which allow you to scan letter-size documents, photography films, and slides.

1) The HP scanner in the room has several convenient functions:

• an automatic feeder dock where you can place at a time up to 30 standard letter-size sheets of paper that will be scanned without your manual intervention. This function saves a lot of time and the hassle of placing/removing each sheet by hand. * To use the automatic feeder, all you have to do is put the sheets in the feeder and initiate scanning. You will be told that the automatic feeder is turned on and that the scanner will use it. When you place the sheets in the feeder, please make sure that the sheets are not stuck to each other, stapled together or held together by other means.

• an accessory for film strip scanning. Place your developed film strip in the accessory and position the accessory on the scanning screen. The scanner is not going to create a photograph out of the developed film. It will simply scan the film and save it as a negative image.

The scanner works with HP ProScan software. The software is easy to navigate with and offers a variety of options. You can save scans in different file formats: image, text, pdf; you can also forward the scans to a software solution, such as Photoshop, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Word, where you could further edit them.

2) The Nikon slide scanner. It is very useful when you need high-resolution copies of the slide images. The device can scan one slide at a time, at an average of 20 seconds per slide. Bear in mind that if you need to scan many slides, the process might take a considerable amount of time. *If you would like to learn some quick tips about slide/film scanning click HERE

Scanning station next to Blume Computer Lab

If you need to scan just a few pages, we would encourage you to use the scanners by the Blume Lab on Library Level 1. The two scanners are located in the carrels, in the common area, right in front of the Blume lab.

Before you start using them, please make sure that they are turned on. Once the power is on, you can make your scans with HP Image Zone, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Photoshop and other software products.

Scanning station on Library, Level A
If you would like to scan larger in size or volume objects, we would advise you on using the touchscreen book scanner on Library level A. The scanner is located in the common area, close to the Dell computers.

It is very easy to navigate with. Before you start scanning, the software will go through several simple steps. It will ask you where you would like to have the files sent to (a USB drive, printer, or e-mail); the file format (pdf, image, etc.); the color mode & resolution. You will then proceed to scan.

Scanning stations in FITC & STA (available to faculty only)
There are two additional scanners in the Library available only to faculty. One of the scanners is located in FITC (Library, Level A), and the other one is in the STA office (Library, Rm 134a).

In case you need assistance with any of the scanners or the scanning software, the STAs will be glad to assist you. Please contact us for any additional help.

Flatbed Scanners
Flatbed scanners are probably the biggest in size but provide a lot of bang for the buck. They look like miniature printers with a flip-up cover protecting the glass platen. Depending on its size, a flatbed scanner can fit standard or legal-sized documents, and the flexible cover allows you to scan large items such as books. These scanners are great for scanning the occasional newspaper article, book chapter, or photograph; or for those who may need to scan or bulky items such as the cover of a DVD. Most Flatbed scanners come as part of Multifunction Printers.

Photo Scanners
Scanning documents doesn't require high resolution or color depth; but scanning photos does. Many all-purpose scanners can also scan photos, meaning that you don't need a separate device to handle your photographs. But if you need a scanner primarily to digitize film negatives or slides, a photo scanner might be better deal (even if it is considerably more expensive than an all-purpose scanner). Photo scanners include specialized technology so that they can deal with slides and negatives; they also have built-in software to clean up old photos.

Sheetfed Scanners
Sheetfed scanners are smaller than flatbed scanners; as the name implies, you feed a document or photo into the scanner rather than place it on top. Although it is smaller in size, it sacrifices some scanning quality for it's speed. If you're only scanning documents, however, it may be a worthwhile trade, especially if you've got a lot of them since you can feed them in bunches. With a flatbed scanner, you'll have to scan one page at a time (unless it comes with an automatic document feeder).

Portable Scanners
Portable scanners are the smallest kind of scanners, some are even as small as a pen. In popular culture they are seen as a spy's best friend. Pen scanners are just a bit bigger than average pens and can scan the text of a document line by line; they look like barcode readers. Some are as wide as a page and roll easily down the page. They're not going to give high-resolution scans and so aren't good for scanning photographs or other applications where you need a good quality result. For most purposes these scanners offer inferior quality and are hence not very desirable unless in an emergency

First of all, there are three (3) different scanners available for use in the Library. Each scanner has different feature sets and is suited for different purposes.


The FITC located on floor A - One scanner (Epson 1680)

MDS Room on floor 1 of the library - Two scanners (Nikon 5000ED/HP Scanner)


Whether you are planning to present slides as part of a PowerPoint presentation (highly recommended) or some other way, you are probably aware that a suitable image quality to file size ratio is essential. Have the image quality set to too high then you end up with images that take a long time to load onscreen as well as consume a lot of space. On the other hand scan images with a low file size and you end up with images that are grainy and not at all pleasing to look at.

Scanning images to present as part of slideshow in class:

If you are looking to present images as part of a presentation in class, a minimum resolution of 400 dpi or 1600 * 1200 pixels is recommended. The scanner most suited to
this would be the Epson expression 1680 located in the FITC lab. The scanner can scan 20 slides at the same time, so it is very handy if you have a lot of slides. Instructions on how to use the scanner are present right next to the scanner or you could always contact the STA program to help you effortlessly scan desired images. Please look at the table below to figure out the resolution at which you are recommended to scan depending on your source.  







Scanning to get best possible images

If you wish to take scan images at extremely high resolutions, where file size is of secondary concern then the Nikon scanner at the MDS is recommended. The scanner take scans at 4000dpi at an average of 20 seconds per slide. A resolution of 4000 dpi is very high indeed and for all practical purposes overkill, however it is comforting to know that the scanner has the ability to take such high scans should the need ever arise. Scanning at 2400 dpi is more than sufficient for most editing/enhancing processes. Please note that the Nikon scanner can only scan one (1) slide at a time so be prepared to spend considerable time if you have a lot of slides/negatives to scan.


Instructions on how to use the scanner are present right next to the scanner or you could always contact the STA program to help you effortlessly scan desired images.