Michael Keller, a 1967 graduate of Hamilton College and an alumni trustee of the college, was featured in a New York Times article (May 12, 2003) about digitizing books at Stanford, where he is head librarian.
The article describes the time-consuming process of digitizing books and magazines , page by page. The New York Times says: "Mr. Keller, however, has recently added a tool to his crusade. On a recent afternoon, he unlocked an unmarked door in the basement of the Stanford library to demonstrate the newest agent in the march toward digitization. Inside the room a Swiss-designed robot about the size of a sport utility vehicle was rapidly turning the pages of an old book and scanning the text. The machine can turn the pages of both small and large books as well as bound newspaper volumes and scan at speeds of more than 1,000 pages an hour.
"Occasionally the robot will stumble, turning more than a single page. When that happens, the machine will pause briefly and send out a puff of compressed air to separate the sticking pages.
"For Mr. Keller, the robot, made by 4DigitalBooks, one of two companies now introducing the first automated digitization systems, is a boon.
