Rod Neep in England is involved in a great project to scan old,
out-of-print books, directories, etc. and to then distribute them on CD-ROM.
This is a non-profit project; any funds received are either plowed back into
the project to buy more books or are donated to the archives that have loaned
books to the project. I wrote about this project in the 11 October 2000 edition
of this newsletter, which is available at: www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/eastman/2653.asp, under "More Old Books on CD.
Rod has now expanded the project significantly and supplied the
following announcement:
It gives me lots of pleasure to announce that the Archive
CD Books Project has set up a scheme of co-operation with the Family Records
Centre in London (That's an arm of the Public Record Office).
The FRC in London has millions of visitors each year... all
wanting to search stuff for their family history. All wanting to leaf through
the collection of old books. That presents a problem, as the old books are
getting so much heavy use that some of them are starting to literally disintegrate,
although some have been rebound (several times!). However it’s the
pages that are really starting to suffer.
So.... we have come to an arrangement where the books are
to be scanned and put onto CD, (at no cost to the FRC) and then visitors
will be able to view them on screen instead. (We shall also be supplying
CDs of the large existing range to them, too.) The books that need it will
be renovated professionally, and we at Archive CD Books will also be paying
for that work to be done. We expect that some of the renovations will cost
between one and two hundred pounds per book.
All of the CDs will then be released in the range of the Archive
CD Books Project, at anything between GBP 8.50 and 14.00 depending on the
particular book. And of course, anyone in the world will be able to own
their own copy of these extremely rare and valuable books, which they would
otherwise never have had the opportunity of seeing! (But of course, it is
the sale of the CDs that will actually pay for the scanning work to be done
for the FRC, and also pay for the book renovations).
We are starting with the collection of county directories,
as they are the ones that get the hardest wear and tear (literally!) at
the FRC.
We are working on approximately ten books per week to begin
with, and that may step up in the near future. The first ones have already
been done now... and the books on CD released, so the project is well under
way. I'll be trying to keep the costs of CDs right down to the minimum, in
line with all the others in the existing range. From GBP 8.50 plus post &
packing. One of the best ways of keeping costs down is for some serious "word
of mouth" advertising of the Archive CD Books Project in genealogy circles,
reviews, etc. It has worked so far!
Anyone who buys one of the CD Books is genuinely contributing
towards the preservation of these old and rare books, not just the ones
that we buy from dealers and give away to museums and libraries, etc., but
also those that are part of projects such as the latest ones from the Family
Records Centre in London.
It feels good! Very good.
Regards
Rod
You can read more about this great project at: www.archivecdbooks.com.
You can also contact Rod Neep at: enquiries@archivecdbooks.com.
Dick Eastman Online
