Author Archive
Never Miss a Book with Interlibrary Loan
We received an inquiry the other day that asked, “What is Interlibrary Loan? How are your scanners compatible?” What first appeared to be a short answer became lengthy (and interesting) enough to be blogworthy. What is Interlibrary Loan (ILL)? According to the American Library Association, “Interlibrary loan (ILL) is the process by which a library requests material from, or supplies material to, another library [either via hard copy or digital file].” There are many different ILL applications including: Ariel®; Odyssey; ILLiad;…
Princeton’s Latin American Ephemera
Having celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Monday, we decided to raise our margaritas and toast Princeton’s Latin American Ephemera Collection. Crowley Imaging is currently under contract to scan and convert more than 100, 000 images from the collections, which are unparalleled in size and scope. As a result of this project, a vast portion that has so far remained uncatalogued, and therefore hidden from students and scholars, will soon become freely and widely available on the web. Short-lived…Forever The concept…
Crowley’s Traveling Technician
On March 26th, Steve Sheckels, a Crowley field service engineer, accomplished a pretty impressive milestone: he visited his 50th United State in the course of doing business. Steve’s a talented technician and instructor and has traveled the U.S. and beyond performing scanner and imaging equipment installations, training and – happily, far less frequently – repairs. On the heels of his personal Facebook post recognizing this achievement, we asked him to pull together some of the highlights of his travels. Here’s…
Throwback: 2003 Mekel Acquisition Transports Crowley Into Manufacturing
As anyone who’s ever taken an entry-level philosophy class can tell you, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Today we must agree to disagree with the great Aristotle. At The Crowley Company, we are greater because of our parts—Crowley has become a stronger, better-rounded organization thanks to the partnerships and acquisitions we’ve accumulated over our 30+ years in the imaging industry. Today we take the time to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of a major addition to…
Crowley Imaging Goes Hollywood with West Coast Imaging Facility
Well, technically we’re 34 miles west, but that’s still pretty darn close to Tinseltown. The fact is that with this week’s asset acquisition of Integrated Scanning of America (ISA), a respected California scanning bureau, Crowley Imaging now has an imaging facility to serve clients in the western United States. And that’s good news all around. What exactly is a service bureau? Those in the archive preservation and records management industries understand that a service bureau in our industry is descriptive…
When 26 Doesn’t Equal 26
Don’t Let Camera Megapixels Fool You For a non- or semi-technical person, when it comes to megapixels (or pretty much anything), the common understanding is that bigger is better. But there are caveats. Aren’t there always? (Wine and chocolate come immediately to mind). The following is a brief and elementary explanation of camera resolution and what to look for when you’re purchasing a scanner as it pertains to this topic. It’s important to note that this is just one factor…
One Man. Wicks and Wilson Scanners. 26+ Million Newspaper Images
At Crowley, we love discovering great digital collections – especially when they’ve been scanned on our manufactured capture equipment. Even after more than 30 years, the idea of making images and information from the past available to records managers, archivists, researchers, students and history junkies today and in the future is exciting. When we saw this reason.tv feature on long-time Wicks and Wilson client, Tom Tryniski, and his astonishing 26 million+ newspaper images scanned, we just had to dig…
March is in Like a Lion…and Crowley Appreciates the Roar
Oscar worthy? You decide! March brings Crowley’s first professionally-produced video featuring the UScan+ Universal Film Scanner: Weather aside (because let’s face it, Mother Nature has worn that topic out this winter), Crowley’s month has started with a roar and we’d be quite happy if the proverbial lamb took an extended leave of absence so that the excitement can continue. Here’s what’s up: Konica Minolta Business Solutions, U.S.A., Inc. is a UScan+ Reseller True story. As of the first Monday in…
Saving Black History: Digitizing Records of The Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane
The name alone is enough to conjure images from television’s “American Horror” yet this is no scriptwriter’s drama. Instead, the records of The Central Lunatic Asylum For Colored Insane tell the stories of tens of thousands of real African American psychiatric patients dating back more than 100 years. Except for the intervention of Dr. King Davis, director and professor of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis, these stories may well have…
Crowley Digitizes 15 Volumes from the Mount Vernon Historical Collection
As we celebrate President’s Day this week, we look back to the one who started it all; George Washington. The man who led our troops to victory in the Revolutionary war and helped shape 13 orphaned colonies into the United States of America. His ideals contributed to the foundation of the Constitution and have stood as a moral benchmark for the evolution of the country. Over two centuries after his death, we are now able to celebrate his…