KIRTAS

Wired Campus has just publish an article about George Washington University digitizing project:

Centuries ago, the best way to reproduce a book was to have a monk in a monastery sit down and rewrite the original, word for word.

These days, digitizing one of those ancient texts can seem almost as laborious: It can take hours upon hours of human work to scan just one volume. So George Washington University is now trying to figure out if an automated digitization system will take less time, and cost less per page, than a manual one.

The university announced Tuesday that it will use an automated system to digitize rare Middle Eastern texts from its own library and from that of Georgetown University. Library staffers will digitize hundreds of works over the next two years, and when the project is completed, they will examine the associated costs. They hope to be able to tell other libraries which method of digitization is more affordable.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., AUGUST 20, 2009 – Inc. magazine ranked Kirtas Technologies No. 382 on its 28th annual Inc. 500, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs.

“If you want to know which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500,” said Inc. editor Jane Berentson. “These are the most dynamic, fast-growth companies in the nation, the ones finding innovative solutions to problems, creating smart systems, and inventing products we soon discover we can't live without. The Inc. 500 list is Inc. magazine’s tribute to American business ingenuity and ambition.”

http://inc.com/inc5000/2009/company-profile.html?id=200903820

2009 AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXPO, CHICAGO, JULY 10, 2009 - The Kirtas Automated Book Imaging System (KABIS) is the latest innovation from the company that pioneered the book digitization revolution. With streamlined features and additional automation for improved usability; KABIS requires less operator intervention and provides faster productivity for enhanced efficiency.

“With KABIS, we’ve moved our focus from the automatic page turning aspect of the machine to a broader view of the entire imaging process of a book from start to finish,” said Kirtas Founder and CEO Lotfi Belkhir. “Our customers have provided invaluable feedback and insight into what works best for them, and KABIS offers numerous areas of efficiencies that will improve their overall performance.”

At Kirtas Technologies, mass digitization has always been viewed as a long-term investment. By bringing centuries’ worth of rare bound materials back to life for the digital age, digitization becomes an investment in the future and new technology. Today, it also becomes an investment in knowledge that anyone can make.

Invest in Knowledge is a new, innovative—patent pending—initiative introduced by Kirtas in conjunction with the company’s Digitize on Demand program and retail Web site, www.kirtasbooks.com. The program allows anyone to subsidize the digitization of the world’s knowledge one book at a time.