Have you ever wondered about scanning entire books quickly and easily? Especially when traveling, it can be cumbersome to carry large numbers of papers and books in one's luggage; however, ebooks aren't always easily accessible, and sometimes cost as much as the books you've already bought in hard copy.
This talk is about constructing book scanners using open hardware designs, easy-to-obtain parts, and open-source software. Book scanners take print books and turn them into text-searchable ebooks (in PDF, DJVU, or EPub formats). We will cover the history of the DIY Book Scanning movement, including some legal issues surrounding it. We will also cover (and demonstrate) how to develop and build a ready-to-use, collapsible scanner out of inexpensive parts and open-source software using a new hardware design released into the public domain by the presenter. This new scanner design builds on lessons from the DIY community, doesn't require experience with power tools, and relies on a type of camera you might already own.
Book scanners like this can typically get through 800 pages per hour, and utilize free and open-source software to semi-automatically create a nice-looking, searchable ebook or PDF document from scanned material. They can be used to preserve community historical materials, make educational materials more accessible, and simply to make it easier to travel with one's personal library.