The OS 12000 Bookcopy is the best designed single purpose scanner I've ever seen. Open a book and lay it flat, and the overhead copy system shoots a scan in just one second. The 17" monitor is used to frame the page scans, and the flat table is perfect for scanning large format pieces. The table is set to a height where the user can pull up a stool and read the book on the scanning table while quickly snapping scans of the interesting pages. That's why I love this design so much - The technology function is an extension of reading the book.

The Bookcopy can be hooked directly into a laser printer for making copies, or the scanned images can be shuttled around with USB, memory cards, CD or DVD, or a direct connection to a workstation. According to the company's marketing materials the scanner uses a lower light intensity than a standard scanner so it is much less damaging to aged or brittle paper.

This type of machine is going to be a boon to academic researchers who have to read, mark pages, and haul a stack of books to the copy machine. As someone who has spent a few months studying too much I would love to see a few of these machines around my university library.

AVING has some great shots of the machine in action from CeBit. Originally spotted on Nigel's webpage - The Red Ferret Journal.