Hello colleagues and friends,

I received a very interesting question (below) about technologies for
scanning books that do not fit on a regular flatbed, and cannot be cut
apart. I look forward to hearing your ideas. If you want a summary of the
responses I receive, just ask.

Alan
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Is anyone working on an efficient way to scan pages
from books that cannot be laid flat due to tight bindings or antiquity
and collector status?

Used to be you could lay such books over the edge of a flatbed so they
wouldn't have to be opened more than 90 degrees. But now all the
copiers and scanners seem to have wide borders.

I know there is a light pen/pen scanner type thing but that would only
do a line at a time.

I am imagining something like a squeegee for the windshield of your
car, or the head of a floor-sweeper, a narrow rectangle, that could be
swept down a page efficiently and quickly. Obviously it's an
imperfect solution but I have run into at least three occasions where
books cannot be scanned due to tight bindings or because they are rare
and historic and can't be flattened out fully.