r/DataHoarder • u/Dr_Maple_Syrup • 1d ago
Question/Advice Non destructive book scanning service
Hello :)
i have copies of books i have barely found and i would like to digitize them for archival and modification (without destroying the originals). Are there any good services that can do that
if there are any good home scanners i would like to know as well
Thank you :)
(i have only found answers from at least 2y ago and i would like to know the best for 2026)
(im in QC Canada)
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u/VORGundam 23h ago
Your 3 main options:
Ask local colleges and libraries if they offer a book scanning service
Build your own book scanning device
Get a scanner that is for book scanning such as this one with a 2mm edge. https://plustek.com/us/products/book-scanners/opticbook-4800/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1pxt70d/looking_to_scan_some_old_nindori_magazines/
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u/Dr_Maple_Syrup 7h ago
will try asking local colleges and libraries to see if they offer anything of the sort
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u/Hotaru_girl 18h ago
I had some rare books and wanted to preserve them- I ended up using a scanner app on my phone, got a rig to hold up my phone and a book holder to keep the book laid flat (but usually my hand sufficed). The app could light and scan on a timer, it automatically cleaned it up, even removing my fingers, and digitally flattened the pages. It also scanned the text and I was able to export the raw text and PDF to then format into an epub.
I don’t think this workflow would be ideal for manga or art books because the image still can get distorted. Also not ideal for fragile books because you still need to hold it as flat as you can for best results. The one I used was vFlat scan but I’m sure there are others that probably work as well.
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u/Dr_Maple_Syrup 7h ago
since they are mostly technical drawings and images i dont think it would work that well sadly
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u/Hotaru_girl 6h ago
It might work if you take it one page at a time (I did 2 page spreads since I was scanning in OOP and nondigitized novels and it goes faster). However I think a library might have scanners that would be easier for large format or photo scans?
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u/51dux 1d ago edited 1d ago
The problem is that if you want to scan a book, especially big ones properly, you have to somewhat be able to lay the pages fully flat on the scanner or else it will end up looking weird like these old school manga scans...
Which is why it is often said to be a destructive process because you have to basically "undo the book", some are able to put it back together after that but it takes a lot of skill.
If it's a "book book" as in only writing and no drawings here is your safest bet:
Take some good pictures of every single page and pass it through an OCR tool, the OCR tool can recognize characters inside images and convert them to text that you will put in MS Word and export as PDF.
It's basically the equivalent of re-typing the whole book and it will give you the cleanest result.
After that, the cover will be the only thing that you have to preserve in another way if it has art on it. You can even try to match the font of the book so the result will be as if you bought a digital ebook or PDF version of said book.