Seales, W. B., Yun Lin. �Digital Restoration using Volumetric Scanning.� In Proceedings of the 4th ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries Held in Tucson, AZ 7-11 June 2004, 117-124. New York, NY: ACM Press 2004   ����������� This article introduces a new procedure for reading texts that are now considered unreadable, either by fire and/or water damage or because time has made the text rolled, warped, or even stuck together so that flattening it would cause it to be destroyed. The process is done by taking the text and placing it in a CT (computed tomography) scanner and viewing the different layers. Then if the text is misshapen it is run through a program to correct any distortion caused by it. This could have a great benefit to libraries by allowing new texts thought to be lost into the collection. It also gives a way to digitally preserve those texts which are not flat and are hard to scan under traditional means. ����������� Allowing texts that are so damaged that they have never been read to be added to a collection would be a very valuable resource for researchers in many fields. Some older manuscripts and scrolls have been so distorted over time and are extremely fragile that those in the field have to choose between losing this historical object with no guarantee that they will be able to recover any text or preserving it and never knowing what�s written on it. This new method would not damage the artifact because it never actually touches it and could possibly allow us to see never before seen writings. The library would benefit from this by having a more writings from a period or from an author giving the school�s professors and students a more complete picture of history. ����������� An advancement like the volumetric scanning method could potentially, if it is widely used, open the flood gates to lots of new information in a relatively short period of time. Information the library would need to have access to in order to stay current. The academic library needs to keep up with new methods like this to see what new material is being generated so that they can acquire the new material for the researchers who need it. Since this method involves digital representations of data it would be expected that it be available in a digital format so that requires making sure all the databases are current and up to date and seeing if new databases should be purchased. ����������� Another valuable benefit for the academic library from this technique is the storage and digitization of its materials, especially older, more fragile ones. Many libraries have special collections with rare and older books. These books may not be in a condition that you would want everyone handling it, so if they could view a digital copy more people would have access. Many of the current methods of scanning in materials involve flat scanners, but not every source was made perfectly flat. And many of the more delicate sources you wouldn�t want to scan in every page because of its condition. Volumetric scanning gives us potential to digitize those things in the collection that are rare and fragile or just oddly-shaped. Digital representation of some of the harder to find things in the library�s collection is valuable because despite the best preservation and storage techniques accidents happen, buildings catch on fire or are damaged in storms, even a fire alarm could destroy a book with water damage from sprinklers. If the collection does suffer some damage then the digital copies would still be available so there wasn�t a total loss. ����������� The article is by the inventors of this technique so there are some biases in it, mostly in not fully explaining the cost involved and going in depth how much we could actually recover from damaged or fragile texts. A CT scanner isn�t cheap and while universities with medical schools may have one on site, it is doubtful they would let the library use it much or at all. When they talk about CT scanners they also mention new custom scanners which could be more expensive (because they give higher resolution) and not as easy to find. This makes it so that there may be one or two companies or possibly a few large museums that could afford to do this technique limiting its benefit to everyone. They also don�t mention how much the software for this would cost. High level 3D applications don�t usually run cheap and require very high end hardware to run, most libraries wouldn�t have the money to afford either. They would have to wait till someone else scanned it. In the article they also don�t discuss how much could potentially be retrieved with this technique. They do state that it�s still in development so we can not expect it�s full potential right now but the examples they give are one made up test example and another that is not it very bad shape, just rolled up. The results for both are good, but somewhat fuzzy and unclear. If this was small text instead of Egyptian hieroglyphs then would it be as discernable? I would like to see them try it on that book pictured on the first page. ����������� Overall this technique has the potential to give libraries a more complete record of history and past writings. It is still a work in progress and the current cost limitations may mean that it will be some time before it becomes more mainstream. The academic library should keep up with advances like this to see where they are heading and when or if they will have to update their collection. It�s exciting to think that we could find �new� historical documents that are currently sitting on a shelf in a library or museum but until this technique is perfected we shouldn�t get our hopes up too much.