[LM_NET] TECH: I want a scanner that e-mails document sets EASILY. Any leads?

["Hastings, Jeff" <HASTINGJ@HOWELLSCHOOLS.COM>]

Colleagues:

Y'all were so responsive and knowledgeable with my last query that I've
got another one for ya:
        
I'm currently reviewing a book scanner for SLJ--look for the review it
in print/online/podcast form in a couple months. The product differs
from your normal inexpensive scanner in a couple slight but key ways
that make it ideal for copying pages of books in sequence. It also lets
you scan and e-mail docs pretty seamlessly; doing so by calling up your
default e-mail program.

Testing it has got me thinking...feverishly.

The product I'm testing makes scanning and e-mailing book pages simple,
but not simple enough. Having glimpsed the promise land, though, the
whole idea of students being able to EASILY scan articles from print
sources and e-mail them home in one seamless operation is something I
now feel I simply MUST have on my library floor. As Poe might say, "once
the idea entered my mind, it has haunted me day and night." 

I simply must have this functionality whether I have to buy it or piece
it together myself. 

Daddy, I want it NOW!

Let me just sketch out this idea a bit more, then you can advise: 

I'm big on the idea of eliminating "media bias," the favoring of one
format of information over another. In a perfect world, the quality of
the info should be the only consideration in choosing a resource;
convenience shouldn't be the dominant criterion.

Doubtlessly most of you feel the same way. 

As you know, most academic databases now integrate an e-mail bot right
into their products so in-house users can just fling articles home,
which is great and has given those resources a big edge over print,
which, as far as I'm concerned, is not so great. In an effort to
equalize things a bit, I offer free photocopying for researchers that
want to copy from our print resources. That definitely helps keep my
print resources in use, but it's not such good news for trees or our
shrinking supply budget. 

I want a scanner that'll e-mail page scans sets from print sources home
in a fashion that's almost as easy as most research databases make it--
Just scan, enter the recipient's e-mail address and press send. And it'd
be doubly cool if everything could be done right from a simple hardware
panel with no complicated software interface to mess with. What a great
boon such a device would be for libraries! 

So my first question is:

Does such a copier/scanner already exist?

If not, has anyone out there fashioned their own scan and e-mail
solution?

If so, I want to know what you're doing. 

Mind you: Two years ago, I attempted to design a scanner station to do
allow kids to scan print articles and incorporate images from print
sources into digital presentations. Instead of attempting an e-mail
solution which is really dicey in a k-12 environment, I set it up so
kids could save to a shared drive and access their saved material
through the school's intranet. It proved slow and just plain clunky as
hell--kids couldn't do it themselves. I've all but abandoned that
approach. Every kid, though, can handle a photocopier. The way I see it,
they're just one small but crucial step away from what I want them to be
able to do: e-mail those copies home.

How do I get there?

Tell me whatcha know.



  Jeffrey Hastings,
  School Library Media Specialist
  Highlander Way Middle School 
  Howell, Michigan 48843
  hastingj@howellschools.com



        
        


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