Archive for the ‘Digitization Products’ Category
Broadening Reach with Resellers
From its humble beginnings as a one-person firm started by Jerry Crowley in 1980, The Crowley Company has grown in many ways and yet remains a small business at heart. Now with divisions in Frederick, MD, Basingstoke, UK, and San Dimas and Newbury Park, CA, Crowley has sprawled out across the map with expanding staff, brands and services. Today led by brothers Chris and Pat Crowley, the company remains a family business and preserves this mentality in the way it…
Quantum Happiness
Last week we received the kind of email every business wants to receive: a glowing review, a good tip and an idea for further engagement – the trifecta of customer response. A State Archivist wrote: “After framing the first fiche…in QuantumProcess, I used “Progogate this page” and since they [the images] were all shot the same, it took very minor tweaking to get the rest perfect. These machines are more flexible than I ever imagined. Is there an official forum…
From Scanning to Salmon: Installing an InoTec in Alaska
In April, we discussed technical support services and celebrated the 50th state milestone of Crowley technician Steve Sheckels. Today, we take a look into the life of another Sheckels brother, Kris. You may remember Kris as the imaging specialist who scanned the Rosenberg diary under armed guard. Now a Crowley Imaging service bureau project manager, Kris used to also be a traveling technician. This past week, he took a step into his past life and flew cross-country to Bethel, Alaska…
Selling to the Competition
I recently interviewed a client for an upcoming case study on Mekel Technology microfilm and microfiche scanners. The client represents a service bureau and asked a question we hear often, “We’re Crowley competitors. How do you represent us and yourselves at the same time?” Good question. Crowley has several divisions: research and development; manufacturing; hardware sales; technical support and Crowley Imaging, our own service bureau. In addition to selling to service bureaus, with which we compete, we also manufacture…
Behind the Film: Creating and Maintaining Microfilm
In a recent blog post, we continued the discussion on why microfilm as a preservation media remains relevant in today’s archival and records management industries due to its long lifespan, utility for disaster recovery, image quality, and other factors. As a follow-up to this conversation, I was curious about the behind-the-scenes and wanted to discover how people preserve information on microfilm. Fortunately, there is a fully-staffed conversion service bureau just a few yards from where I sit, and I was…
Technical Support – The Third Slice of Crowley’s 360⁰ Solution
We recently wrote about one of our senior technicians, Steve Sheckels. The blog documented the highlights of his six years (and counting) with Crowley Support and his recollections upon visiting his 50th state while on the job. As a natural follow-up, this blog will shine some light on the capabilities of our entire technical support team. What many clients don’t know is that Crowley customer services don’t stop at scanning equipment and imaging services. We also offer technical support along…
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;…
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…
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…