KIC book scanning systems are self-service digitization/scanning stations that make your entire library collection available digitally for about 1% of your library budget. KIC is an indispensable tool for research, and study of content from books, journals, newspapers, magazines and loose paper. KIC includes powerful tools like KIC Composer and KIC AutoNOTE. In addition, KIC eliminates the need for conventional multifunction photocopy machines. Excerpts from a printed volume can be digitized thousands of times with no additional payments to publishers because KIC is digitize on demand, a welcome alternative to cost-prohibitive digital subscriptions! KIC offers models for every budget and every need.
KIC book scanning systems are modern self-service digitization/scanning stations. While they eliminate the need for patron use copiers, KIC systems are not copiers – they are much, much more. Most KIC systems offer face-up scanning, which is much easier and faster than face down copying or scanning with multifunction copiers. Of KIC’s many digital age features, perhaps the most exciting is a new patron service: self-serve scanning of personal/family archives, photos & photo albums, scrap books, childrens’ art, recipes, etc., and ordering of color glossy hardbound books from a marketplace of KIC POD vendors. KIC is also an indispensable tool for research and study of content from books, journals, newspapers, magazines and paper. KIC offers models for every budget and every need.
KIC systems are available for use with a wide variety of scanners and digitizers ranging 25x18" scan area with preservation to 11x17", very high-speed scan stations that provide instant access on tablets, notebooks, smart devices and easy transfer to desktop PCs, the cloud and print servers. All KIC scan stations are ruggedly built for high-volume use and designed specifically for gentle treatment of books, and KIC's searchable PDF output files can be sent to email, USB drive, Cloud and/or sent wirelessly to smart devices. It's no wonder that DLSG's products are so popular with public libraries and are now accessible to over 70% of U.S. university students and faculty.
In the U.S. alone, DLSG book scanners are on 800 college and university campuses, including most of the top 100 and nearly all large campuses. With the introduction of the KIC Click Mini, KIC BookEdge and KIC for Sprout Pro by HP, KIC is now affordable for virtually all institutions of higher learning and full-service public libraries. Last decade, libraries typically 'added' several KIC book scanning kiosks for patron, student, faculty and researcher use, but since 2010 libraries have begun to replace their entire patron-use copier fleets with self-serve book scanning systems.
-- Ramie Miller, Millersville University
Regarding KIC's T2T true two-touch interface, ...-- Jeff Bernhard, Assistant Director for ITS Client Services & Support
Our librarians and patrons love our KIC systems-- Benjamin J. Chapman, Emory Law IT
We love the KIC scanner!-- M. Alicea-Sáez, Bentley University
These things are amazing!-- Angie Class, Librarian, Sacramento Public Library
The KIC scanners are perfect. Getting-- Melveta Walker, Director, Golden Library, Easter New Mexico University
We are replacing all our copiers with KIC... We are thrilled with KIC.-- Victor Cenac-Methedinti, Archives Specialists, Fuller Theological Seminary
The KIC systems is perfect - no problems whatsoever... We're extremely satisfied.-- Jessica Drewitz, Head of Public Services, Pepperdine University School of Law
Students at academic libraries want speed, and DLSG offers the fastest book scanners on the market. Patrons at public libraries need simplicity, and KIC provides three of the simplest possible user interfaces, one exclusively for scanning, one exclusively for copying and one exclusively for faxing. And KIC's best-of-breed power user interface is only a touch away.
While multifunction copiers are partly digital, they are big mechanical machines with big maintenance issues and tiny touch screens. As a copier replacement, KIC eliminates copier failure/service problems and provides very large touch screens and view screens that are larger still. Organizing (collating, clipping, rotating, etc.) pages on a huge touch screen is much easier than shuffling paper.
The digital age has steadily driven down the demand in libraries for paper copies to levels that make it increasingly difficult to justify copiers. KIC self-service scanning systems reduce copier use further — to the point that attaching a small laser or ink jet printer is sufficient. Scan Copy Fax KIC systems also handle much larger materials than copiers, and they scan books without damaging them. However, the most compelling benefit of KIC over copiers is KIC's speed, due mainly to its face-up scanning design, which is not only significantly faster, but far easier to use.
KIC's huge touch screen and larger view screen make faxing extra easy. Users can compose, review, clip, crop and change brightness and contrast of the pages of a fax before sending. KIC's step-by-step process is designed for easy operation by even the most timid users. All you need is an internet connection, and DLSG will provide the rest at a cost so low that fax revenue can pay for the KIC system in a few years or less.
KIC Coin is a digital-age fee collection system included with all KIC systems. KIC Coin does not require that a coin box or a card reader be located next to each copier and fax machine. It works like a debit card, but no card is required. Patrons simply purchase any denomination they designate at the front desk. The library staff member prints a corresponding paper “KIC Coin” with barcode. The patron then places the KIC Coin on the KIC scanner and scans to begin charging the card with every scan thereafter.
Printing copies and faxing have per page costs. These costs are normally passed on to the user. With photocopiers, MFCs and other book scanning kiosks, additional hardware for collecting fees must be acquired. The costs of this additional hardware must be passed on to the user.
KIC has a free, built-in method of charging users for copies and faxes. Simply print wallet-size “KIC Coins” on regular letter-sized paper in any denomination that you like, cut them out, and sell them to users at the circulation desk or wherever you collect fees for late book returns.
All KIC self-serve book scanning kiosksystems is compatible with all standard copy card and coin-op devices. When KICs are introduced to a library, most patrons opt for digital output, so costly expendables are avoided, even for color! With KIC coins, the the library can keep all revenue it collects.
Users need only locate the volume(s) that they expect to contain the information they are seeking, scan selected sections and output either a searchable PDF file or a text file. These files can easily be searched for various keywords.
Keyword searching is becoming an indispensable capability that significantly improves the quality and efficiency of researching print collections.
Scan selected excerpts from multiple sources in just minutes
Output text or searchable PDF directly to a tablet, e-reader, PC or smart phone.
Search all scanned pages in an instant for various key words and...
Place books face-up on KIC Bookeye 4's large bed & capture two pages at a time - much faster than flatbed scanners and copiers.
Use whole pages or clip selected pictures, graphs, test, etc. using KIC's large touch screen.
Save scanned images to USB flash drive or cloud storage, send them via email address or
transfer images directly to a tablet, notebook PC, or smart phone.
Enhance reports in a word processing program. Drag desired images from a flash drive, Cloud storage or email directly into a word processing program, or save images to your computer desktop and use the 'insert picture' function.
Once images are imported into a word processing program, you may want to resize or reposition them or select from several ways that your text can wrap around the pictures.
Library patrons bring loose paper from home to scan, fax and send via email or save to a USB device. A $5 USB thumb drive can store thousands of important documents.
Quickly scan many pages to take with you and study at your convenience in the comfort of your home where you can read, search, markup, and print at your leisure
With KIC in your library, instructors are no longer restricted to a single text book. They can freely assign many excerpts from many books without adding to the students' already high cost of text books.
Offer your students and faculty KIC and its powerful, digital age features that from a superhighway between your highly valuable print collections and the digital word. Composer by KIC is one of many powerful features that are free with any KIC station under active maintenance.
Once pages are scanned, KIC automatically select photos, charts, and paragraphs. Users can simply touch and drag to select an area, or just touch a photo, chart or paragraph and drag it to the digital clipboard.
Move clips individually from the clipboard to existing pages, or start a new blank page. Then design your layout by arranging, rescaling, rotating clips, and/or adding annotations, frames, and clipart.
Shrink, enlarge, and rotate clip to create any layout. Undo changes, remove clips, until your creation is complete. It's digital desktop publishing, easy as 1-2-3, at your fingertips.
Use KIC's huge touch screen to easily arrange, rescale, rotate clips, and/or add annotations, frames, and clipart.
Then save your results in a variety of file formats and send to USB, email, smart device, or cloud.
With KIC's new Print On Demand functionality, patrons can quickly and easily order printed books of photo albums, scrapbooks, photos, recipe cards, book excerpts, loose papers, newspaper & magazine articles, and more.
Clip, crop, rearrange pages and then choose the kind of book, pages and quantity desired. Order your original book(s) using KIC's simple "shop-online" interface to find the best value and pay with your credit card. Your books will be printed, packaged and shipped to you within days!
I can’t believe how easy it was to order beautifully printed and bound copies of my thesis right from one of the KIC stations in the library!
“I selected excerpts from eight books and created the text book I use for my Civil War class.”
KIC face-up self-serve book scanning kiosks save a lot of time and reduce book spine damage because they capture two face-up pages of a book with each scan and do not require the user to flip the book twice for each page. KIC analyzes each image, and automatically splits it into two separate images. In addition, black edges are automatically removed and the content is straightened, producing clean, professional looking images - important for electronic reserves, course curriculum materials and research reports. These automatic image treatment functions also save a lot of faculty, administrator, and student time.
The capture area of copiers is about half that of KIC Bookeye 4 while the capture area of typical consumer scanners is smaller still. With a 18 X 24 inch capture area, Bookeye 4 captures it all!
– – – Competing face-up book scanner A 14x18.9"
⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅ Competing face-up book scanner B 14x20.5"
With the view screen on the side,the Bookeye 4 neck provides an ideal bookstop for scanning very large reference books. KIC provides full rotation capabilities so that you can scan in the orientation that suits you best.
The face-up scanning capability of KIC Bookeye 4 and KIC Click™ systems enables users to capture multiple pages far more easily than ever before - books no longer need to be flipped over to turn the page and then flipped back over for each scan or copy. KIC self-serve book scanning kiosks scan up to ten times faster than a typical flatbed scanner and three to four times faster as than a high speed copier, with automatic page splitting and better image quality. In addition, it produces either color or black & white images for the same cost, which equates to substantial savings. Finally, KIC promotes a cleaner environment by reducing paper and toner use.
Unlike Born Digital material which must be purchased on a subscription basis, converting print to digital with KIC can be done on an unlimited basis.
KIC self-serve book scanning kiosks convert your huge investment in printed monographs and serials into digitize-on-demand collections at a cost that is an insignificant percentage of the value.
Use the optional KIC SmartDock to transfer 10-20 full-color pages per second to any smart device without using any of your institution's precious WiFi bandwidth.
Electronic images automatically appear on the devices as pages are scanned.
Ease-of-use is a central feature of KIC. Its large, 22 inch touch screen and its large "Scan" and "Save, Send or Print" buttons that occupy a very large portion of the touch screen clearly convey how easy KIC is to use. The Save button defaults to an output method and file format that is selectable by the institution. If a flash drive is inserted, KIC detects this and the output button changes to indicate that it will save to the flash drive. Users can override the default output method by manually selecting one or more other methods of output.
Tabletop KIC models have all the capabilities of the floor-standing models. They also have their own tabletop version of the optional SmartDock for a wireless transfer of images, and ADF (auto-document feeder) scanner for scanning loose-leaf paper, which can be placed anywhere on the table. ADA compliance is achieved by purchasing a table with a 30 inch clearance to the floor and a 31 inch height. KIC tabletop models also offer an optional desktop configuration with a single 22" touch/preview display.
Floor-standing KIC models offer the full KIC self-serve digitization functionality in an elegant, contemporary design with efficient use of space and a compact footprint. KIC 22" touch screen, large preview screen, and scan bed are at the perfect height for wheelchair access.
KIC's high speed is derived as much from its ultra-simple, true two-touch interface as from its support of face-up scanners that obviate the need to flip books over and over again during the capture process.
KIC is very agile, and allows the user to jump from just about anywhere in the touch screen system to just about anywhere else, directly and usually with a single touch. This modern, 'modeless' design is easier to use, but difficult to create.
KIC's large buttons and controls are easy to use, even for people with unsteady hands.
KIC gradually expands and contracts controls such as brightness, con- trast and DPI so users can easily follow their screen activity
KIC doesn't delete original images when you clip a photo or excerpt of text unless you tell it to.
KIC lets you output to many different destinations in a single session.
Once you've scanned a document, you can change your mind as to where you would like it to output. For example, you may have wanted to save to USB, but learned your USB drive is full. Or you may scan so much that it exceeds your email limit. Or after scanning and collating a mass of research, you decide that you want to share the research with others.
It’s easy to undervalue screen size. For 20 years, all cellphone makers relentlessly pursued smaller and smaller screens until very recently when one company reversed that trend. They realized that people want the largest screen that will fit in their pocket/purse and hand. This is because display screens are our window to the digital world, and touch screens give us control over that world.
As big as self-serve scanning systems are, it makes sense to have a very large touch screen. And with the low prices for high quality displays, it is compelling to add a separate display screen. In 2002, DLSG realized this, when the first KIC system was designed. Today, with nearly 10 years more experience than any other vendor, DLSG has the most understandable, easy to use and powerful user interface for self-serve book scanning, and it’s based on dual screens.
The view screen shows very large, clear images of what you’ve scanned, allowing the touch screen to have big, easy to understand buttons and other controls.
Since the first KIC was delivered to an academic library in 2004, the days of photocopiers for patron use in academic libraries and even public libraries were numbered. And now with the rapid explosion of tablet computers and electronic readers, the demand in academic libraries for electronic copies has substantially outstripped the demand for printed copies. The demand for electronic copies in public libraries is also reaching a tipping point.
The ability to capture virtually unlimited numbers of pages of research into a tablet or electronic reader and search through that material on the Internet with a tablet, eReader or notebook PC that can be used just about anywhere is highly convenient and immensely valuable. In this digital age, academic libraries are compelled to go hybrid for three reasons: 1) the high demand for digital content; 2) their existing print collections contain vast amounts of information that cannot be found on the Internet; and 3) students are receptive to the price of electronic copies - typically free.
So how do the costs of KIC systems compare with those of photocopiers? There are three main factors that keep the cost of photocopies high: 1) each copy requires paper, toner and ink; 2) photocopiers require a lot of maintenance due to the number of moving parts; and 3) all major photocopier brands use a distributed service model.
In contrast, these costs are lower for KIC because KIC has split the scan/copy functions into three separate machines, choosing the best of breed for each. As a result, KIC offers the best book scanners by themselves or with a loose-leaf paper (ADF) scanner. Virtually any off-the-shelf laser or inkjet printer can be added to any KIC system, so you can optimize costs and speeds, and offer affordable color.
This graph compares the total costs of one color KIC Bookeye 4 system with three color copiers and with three black and white copiers. Both copiers are the kinds typically seen in academic libraries. One KIC Bookeye 4 is compared with three copiers because its face-up operation yields well over two times the performance of a typical copier. The costs are broken into three main areas: equipment and maintenance, consumables, and patron usage time. With KIC, electronic output is assumed to be preferred over print 90% of the time. That ratio has ranged from 75-95% electronic in 2012, but is certain to rise in the future.
In the digital world, there is no paper, toner or ink, so libraries rarely charge for images, whether black and white or color.
Thick books with stiff spines and content that runs deep into the bookfold are often damaged when copied. KIC Bookeye 4 easily captures content without damaging book spines.
Thick books with stiff spines and content that runs deep into the bookfold are often damaged when copied. KIC Bookeye 4 easily captures bookfold content with high clarity, but all KIC face-up scanners avoid damaging book spines.
KIC automatically removes black edges, straightens content, and produces clean, professional looking images – important for electronic reserves, course curriculum materials and research reports. These automatic image treatment functions also save a lot of administrator, faculty, and student time.
KIC Bookeye 4 handles thick books beautifully. Its contour-finding laser allows it to flatten even the most curved books and produce text that is clear and undistorted. KIC automatically adds margins for print-ready image quality.
Statistics from five millionStatistics from many millions of scanning sessions across America revealed a median session length of 23 pages. So, most of the time spent during a KIC session is spent scanning. Face up scanning has been proven to be three times faster than face down scanning. So why is speed so importantHere are three reasons speed is so important:
This graph compares the total costs of one color KIC Click Mini system with three color copiers and with three black and white copiers. Both copiers are the kinds typically seen in academic libraries. One KIC Bookeye 4 is compared with three copiers because its face-up operation yields well over two times the performance of a typical copier. The costs are broken into three main areas: equipment and maintenance, consumables, and patron usage time. With KIC, electronic output is assumed to be preferred over print 90% of the time. That ratio has ranged from 75-95% electronic in 2012, but is certain to rise in the future.
Over the years, many libraries experimented with color copiers, but could never find a formula that worked. If the fees were low, patrons would copy materials with so much color that the library would spend more on ink than the fees they were collecting. If the fees were too high, the usage would be so low that the cost of the machine couldn't be justified.
KIC calculates the amount of color in an image before it is printed. So the fee for copies with a little bit of color can be the same as the fee for black and white copies. If a copy has a lot of color, the fee can be increased in proportion to the cost of the color ink or toner. This wonderful feature should be a simple, easy byproduct of the digital age, and it is with KIC.
Face-up book scanning is far easier on both patrons and books and quite a bit faster than face-down scanning.
Scanning books face-up makes it much easier to keep track of what pages you've scanned. With KIC Click, Click Mini and other face-up scanners, books stay face up, so you can see what you're scanning as you scan it. This extra visibility eliminates the age old problem of skipping pages and scanning pages out of order which can occur with face-down scanners.
The following photo sequences show the reason that face-down scanning system are typically 1/3 the speed of face-up systems. The book flipping necessary to scan a book on a face-down scanner like the KIC BookEdge is shown in the photo sequence below. It's a workout both for the book and the patron.
The ergonomic design of the face-up scanning systems involves only the basic movement required to set a book down and turn a page.
The sequence above shows just how much work is required to use a face-down scanner to scan multiple pages.
In contrast, the sequence on the left shows the relative speed and ease of face-up scanning systems that do not require the user to flip over the book being scanned. Once placing the book, the user simply turns pages and presses the scan button (or foot pedal) to scan two pages at a time.
Control, update and monitor your KIC systems remotely. To better serve your patrons, it is important to know which KIC systems are used the most and at what times during the day and week, and which are used the least. All usage statistics can help you to determine the best KIC configuration for each site. And to make it easier to navigate from KIC to KIC system, KIC Fleet Manager allows you to select a particular KIC system via either of two methods: a map or a list.
With 20 years serving libraries, KIC is the most stable product available today. However, DLSG engineers incessantly work to improve KIC and support the growing changing digital world. DLSG offers improved software regularly, and to make it easier to deploy updates, KIC Fleet Manager lets you update KIC systems remotely. For example, KIC Fleet Manager lets you turn KIC systems on and off on demand or on a schedule set by a central control panel.
To fully earn the 'hybrid library' designation, a library's existing print collections must be available in digital format. KIC systems allow your students and faculty to select material for quick and easy self-serve digitization, providing a valuable conduit between your print collections and patron tablets, PCs, eReaders and smart devices.
KIC's self-serve digitize-on-demand capabilities leverage your library's most valuable assets - its print collections.
Digital images don't have the limitations of physical copies. They can instantly be shared with fellow researchers around the world via email or Cloud, dramatically facilitating collaboration.
Higher education libraries across America hold $100 Billion in scholarly knowledge, the majority of which can't be found on the internet. This knowledge has been amassed through careful selection over many years and is augmented at substantial expense every year. And, thanks to U.S. copyright law, this knowledge is free to scan an unlimited number of times, or until the books disintegrate.
Because of this, 70% of students at US universities, over 800 major university campuses across America, have added high-speed self-serve book scanning machines to their library floors; machines that create digital content at rates of 5 to 20 pages per minute. These self-serve Knowledge Imaging Centers are much gentler on books and produce higher-quality digital content than the paper reprints produced by paper copiers. The images can cost as little as 1¢ per page and are readable on tablets & smart phones as well as notebooks and regular PCs. The images can be printed at any time for those who still prefer hard copy.
Paper copiers are as necessary as ever in administrative areas across campus, but copier companies don't want to give up that one place they no longer belong, the library floor.
Meanwhile, book spines are being damaged, paper is being wasted, and students are not seeing their libraries as the vast free sources for scholarly knowledge that they are.
Fortunately, academic libraries exist to serve students. The first step is for students to inform the libraries as to just how important it is to switch from paper copiers to digital book scanners that can print if desired. The next step depends on circumstances at your particular institution. Every year, libraries spend many times more money on printed books and journals than the cost of an entire fleet of new high-speed scanners. But some libraries have no control ever any of that budget money. At these institutions, faculty specifies what is purchased. So, the library must use other funds to purchase these units. If yours is such an institution, it is especially important to convey just how much students value getting unlimited, free digital content from their libraries, and that it's worth the effort to source together the necessary funds from various other budgets.
Another means of acquiring KIC systems is to use student-administered funds (i.e. student technology funds). These non-library funds can be used to purchase a pilot set of one small KIC, one medium KIC and one large KIC. Once they're in the library, their popularity with students will make it much easier to justify all the efforts necessary to piece together the funds and to tell the entrenched copier companies that the library floor is no longer their domain.
Alternately a relatively small portion of these funds can be used to upgrade from basic Knowledge Imaging Centers (copier replacement kiosks) that scan 5 pages per minute to bigger, faster KIC systems that scan up to 20 pages per minute.
We know the importance of resource sharing. To help squeeze more value out of your investment, KIC can be configured to support the BSCAN Interlibrary Loan system, the Opus Digitization Workflow system, and general ad hoc scanning.
Use a USB flash drive to enable other types of scanning at a KIC station and temporarily access shared folders on a network. When you unplug the USB, the KIC station automatically returns to its regular self-serve scanning station functionality.
For general purpose scanning by administrators and faculty, simply write a department password file to a flash drive. When a user inserts the USB 'key', KIC recognizes the password and allows the user to save scanned images to shared folders.
Image Access has an unmatched service and support record. It is impossible to affordably provide service personnel living in every city and town across America that are highly trained on the very special technologies needed by libraries. Instead, DLSG designs remote serviceability into its products and has perfected remote diagnosis and when possible, repair.
The resulting savings allows DLSG to frequently and promptly provide loaner/swap-out equipment and to go
on site whenever necessary to maintain and repair equipment, minimizing interruptions in service.