A Brand Spanking New ScanPro 3000!!
The OJA gets a new Microfiche Scanner and Reader
The OJA has purchased a new state-of-the-art Microfiche Scanner and Reader--The ScanPro 3000 (yes! That is the actual name!!) Our old scanner was in desperate need of replacement and one of our frequent researchers was troubled by how cumbersome it was to use. This happened to be Bill Gladstone, local historian, CJN writer, and executive member of the Agudas Hamishpocha. They are a family organization founded in 1928 that still meets regularly and raises money to support various Jewish causes. Bill worked with the organization to make a substantial donation to the OJA to cover the expenses of a new Micofiche Scanner and Reader. As an historian and writer, Bill understands the importance of microfilm in archives and of making this material accessible. The OJA is grateful to Bill, the Agudas, and the Foundation of Jewish Toronto for making this gift possible.
Microfilm is still considered an important format for long-term preservation of delicate originals with high erosion rates (such as newspapers) or for those records that are requested so frequently that they are at risk of damage through constant handling. Micrographic scanners have advanced tremendously over the past several years. Commonly known as microfilm readers, these machines are an invaluable research tool for archives and libraries, whose collections often consist of microfilmed or microfiched records.
Many of the OJA’s most requested collections are on microfilm, particularly our periodicals. This includes:
The Yiddisher Zhurnal (1915-1959)
Der kamf : Der veg : Vochenblatt (1924-1972)
The Canadian Jewish News (1960-1996)
The Jewish Times (1897-1914)
Goel Tzedec Congregation minutes (1889-1917)
Holy Blossom Temple minutes, ledgers books, birth, marriage and burial registers (1856-1969)
Beth Jacob Synagogue (Hamilton) marriage register (1924-1940)
Numerous scrapbooks and diaries of individuals.
The ScanPro 3000 is the top-of-the-line model from ScanPro, the most widely used scanner in archives and libraries. It features a 26 megapixel optical camera capturing the smallest details on the page; high resolution scanning, the capability for in-text searching in multiple languages including Yiddish and Hebrew type; and automatic page scanning capabilities, which can scan entire rolls or partial rolls at up to 10 images per minute.
With a new and robust micrographic scanner, the OJA will better serve our researchers into the future. In addition, the scanning software will enable us to create text-searchable PDFs that can be emailed. We will also be able to link these pdfs to our online database so that users can access the content by keyword searching our database. Providing accessibility to this content to remote users is an extraordinary leap in making the OJA's rich collections available to users across the globe.
Thank you Bill Gladstone and Agudas Hamishpocha!