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Archiver > ROOTS > 2005-07 > 1121215644


From: "Kith-n-Kin" <>
Subject: RE: [ROOTS-L] Re: Need Advice on Organizing Items
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 17:47:24 -0700
In-Reply-To: <025201c586e9$c7be3300$6501a8c0@1070n>


I second Margaret's suggestion on using a camera in the libraries. It is quick and easy to snap the cover,
title, contents, and subject pages. And, they stay in order when you download them -- unless you change
the file names, which I wouldn't.

One further note, however: Call, write, or check the website for "rules of the library" before you go.

In spite of my best efforts (ok, perhaps not quite my best, because I haven't written a formal request),
one of my favorite libraries, the Sutro Library in San Francisco won't allow cameras. They are part of the
Cal State Library system. Neither would the KY Historical Society in Frankfort the last time I was there.
I haven't been rejected in other libraries, courthouses, and archives, including the National Archives,
Kew Gardens, Surry, England.

Because I know that copier services are a revenue producing center for these non-profits, I've even
offered to pay for the pictures I take, at the same rate as their copier prices, to no avail.

As to organizing later, one thing I do I "print to PDF", and then, because I have Adobe Acrobat, I have
been able to merge the separate files in order in one file.

I have even been able to make a searchable file this way, on typed documents. Not just on images I take
from the camera, by the way, but from all those myriad of downloaded reference books now found at Heritage
Quest and other sites.

Pat (in Tucson)

>>> Alternately you can take a digital camera and take pictures of the
pages, copying the title page or putting in a place identification page
between books or other materials so that when you print them out, you have
an idea of what you found when. You might want to practice copying from
books in advance of your trip to make sure you have an idea of how to hold
the camera, whether or not to use flash, how to frame the page, etc. in
advance of a trip to maximize good legible copies that need minimal
cropping. The most important key is learning to steadily hold the camera.<<<



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