Digitaltext’s Weblog

For students who are used to having all of their textbooks available in Kurzweil format here at Landmark College, it is often difficult to obtain Kurzweil formatted books at a new college especially in a timely manner at the beginning of each semester. One possible solution is sending the books to a high speed scanning service; where for a fee, the textbook will have its binding removed, put through a high speed scanner, converted to Kurzweil’s format, rebound. Some will return a CD and some have you download the material.

High Speed Scanning Services that use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert files to .kesi (Kurzweil’s format)

In the USA:
1. Badger Scanner Services

Document Conversion Pricing:
.25 cents per page for Standard Document Conversion,
.50 Cents per page for Document Conversion with Individual Page Optimization.

2. National Scanning

National Scanning utilizes specialized software and processes for industry leading data recognition accuracy and results.
Call for rates:
Corporate Office 25 Commercial DriveWrentham, MA 02093
Phone: (888) 211-1797 Fax: (508) 384-5322

3. Transaccess Scanning Services

It’s easy – just fill out this Book Scanning Request Form and we will contact you with what to do next!
- Cost: $1.25 per scanned page in Kurzweil 3000 format. $.75 per scanned page in TIFF (with no editing).
- There will be a $15.00 charge for additional copies of a CD. For these, we will also need a letter and proof of purchase indicating that a corresponding print copy of the document exists as noted above.
- If you are expecting a large volume of books requiring scanning (approximately 40 or more), you might consider a subscription service. For this service we charge $1000 and offer half price on all scanning for one year. (Please see the prices quoted above).
For more information contact John Cavano, OTR/L at (408) 278-2005.

4. Darylcrouse.com

“With the help of an innovative, book scanning machine, “Book Snap”, I can convert your textbooks to a variety of formats including text files and accessible PDF’s. The book binding will remain in perfect condition. I can do it quickly, efficiently and cost effectively! Just send me the textbook you want digitized, and I will send it back to you in the desired format within just a few days.

5.   Tech-Solutions Scanning in MT will scan, ocr, zone edit, spell check your textbook divided into chapter sections and return it to you in a coil binder.

Their membership tab gives a 404 error so I can’t tell how much a membership costs or how that relates to the cost of getting a book scanned and converted into .kesi files.  You can get more information at:

rbradley@rjtechsolutions.com
1-866-538-9984
FAX – 1-406-538-8174

In Canada

6. Microscience Scanning Services (Ontario)
Files are placed on a CD and shipped back to you. You will require Kurzweil/Wynn software to read these files.
• Editing, spell checking & zone editing of the document can be provided upon a request.
Please call in for our special pricing!
Toll Free: (800) 290-6563info@microscience.on.ca

7. Desktop Publishing Services (Nova Scotia)

Scanning for Kurzweil: (Services available)
Single or multi-page scanning.
Preparation for most types of work on up to 8.5 x 11 inch format scan.
Files converted to Kurzweil file, PDF format, or in Text format.
Files will be forwarded to you on a CD for you to upload to the Universal Library of Kurzweil.
Files available are numerous books, novels as well as some text books at most grade levels.