ELKO — For many years, Elko library patrons wanting to look up old newspaper articles have had to deal with the aging technology of microfilm reader-printers.
While the format may be around for a bit longer, modern digitization is catching up even with microfilm, and Elko County researchers can take advantage of this through the library’s new ST ViewScan station.
The new system — acquired with a grant from the Library Services & Technology Act, through the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Nevada State Library — offers an updated, though familiar, feeding and reading mechanism. It uses a computer terminal for selecting, viewing and printing any desired image.
Any patron dealing with the old machine likely could attest to its cumbersome nature, and particularly to the limited options it allowed for clarifying and printing an image. The ST ViewScanner offers significant improvement in these areas, incorporating the type and range of image controls which have become so familiar to computer users.
A user in this system can select an individual article rather than a large block of the page. The image can be adjusted by size, contrast or brightness, with a degree of refinement not possible with the old reader-printers.
A desired article can be selected, blown up as needed and sent to a printer. Photographs that are part of an article can be adjusted separately from the text. Furthermore, scans taken of several articles, photographs or advertisements, can be placed onto a single page for more convenient printing.
The ST ViewScan station also features a separate document scanner, which can scan paper or film. Patrons can store these images on their own thumb drives, using the available USB ports. Future plans call for this station to connect with the library’s network, which will enable patrons to send their images through email.
