Actually both products mentioned below are quite good. Even the cheaper OCR
packages like TextBridge and some others I can't remember the name of at
the moment are quite good. Almost any inexpensive scanner comes with a
scanning package and part of the package has OCR options.

As with any OCR package. The cleaner the text the better the OCR.

Dick

At 10:14 PM 4/15/2002, you wrote:
>Thanks Trevor! I'm not familiar with Omnipage. It sounds as if it is
>similar to Kurzweil 1000, which, as I understand it, is capable of OCRing
>any document that can be potentially printed, including scanned-in pages
>of articles. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) I would like to hear from
>folks who have experience with this Kurzweil 1000 function (or with
>Omnipage).  What are the current problems? Are they likely to get resolved
>as technology advances?
>
>I'm trying to form an opinion on this emerging technology: Should we, as
>accessibility-advocating librarians, keep up our resistance to an
>electronic reserve system that contains image-based/scanned-in material,
>or should we concede that advancing technology makes concerns about the
>accessibility of image-based documents increasingly a non-issue? Should we
>pursue strategies that would result in the placement of accessible,
>text-based materials on e-reserves, or is it wiser to channel our energy
>into a different direction?
>
>What do you people think?
>
>Axel
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Trevor Wilks [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 12:50 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Docutek's electronic reserve product (ERes)--update
>
>
>Hi Axel,
>
>Our E-reserve just uses PDF format. Last year this was really problematic
>and we had to test the Acrobat 5.0 OCR plug-in (Paper Capture 3.0) which
>was a unsuitable both to students and Library staff.
>
>This year we purchased Omnipage 11 which will OCR an image only PDF file
>and we teach students to do this themselves. Its not always very accurate
>depending on the quality of the original scanned material but it seems to
>be working quite well.
>
>Trevor
>
>Trevor Wilks - Manager
>Adaptive Technology Centre
>Student Support Services
>Student, Alumni and Community Services
>University Services
>Auchmuty Library
>University of Newcastle
>University Drive Callaghan
>NSW 2308 Australia
>Ph-02 49218684
>Mobile-0418 753739
>Fax-02 49217410
>Email- [log in to unmask]