Scholars Take Notes by the Megapixel, but Some Librarians Object

(Via The Chronicle of Higher Education)

When Clifton C. Crais, a professor of history at Emory University, goes to a special-collections library or an archive to do research, he uses his digital camera as a personal photocopy machine.

When he finds an interesting document, he puts it on a table, stands over it with the camera, and shoots a picture. Then he loads the image of the document into his laptop's hard drive for further study. ...

The technique of using digital cameras as note-taking devices is not new but is becoming more common. It is not only an economical and potentially very accurate research method, it also limits the exposure of documents to damage because they are handled less.

Library policies on taking digital photographs of documents differ from institution to institution, however, and librarians themselves, in both the United States and other countries, disagree about whether the cameras should be allowed in an archive, a special-collections library, or a rare-books room.

Posted by Tom on December 22, 2004