11 June 2012

Responsible use of Flip-Pal scanners

At least two vendors had Flip-Pal scanners for sale at the OGS conference in Kingston last weekend. These portable fine resolution machines are increasingly popular with the genealogical community, I've seen them selling at conferences in Canada, the UK and US. 

Just because you have a capability isn't a licence to do something. An Ontario archivist encountered someone leaning up against a framed 1860 map of the County, with the device pressed up against the plexiglass covering trying to capture the area where her ancestors name was located.  

The archivist comments that "not only did she not ask if she could use the device (scanners are not allowed in the archives), but her complete disregard for the care and handling of a 152 year old document/artifact was more than a little surprising."

Policing users to ensure our documentary heritage is conserved is a necessary if not enjoyable part of the archivist's duties -- did anyone think "a policeman's lot is not an 'appy one."

Respecting the protocols of institutions you visit, they do vary, is a simple courtesy to observe.

1 comment:

Patrick said...

John, we at Flip-Pal mobile scanner completely agree with you with regards to the responsible use of our scanners. Anyone using a Flip-Pal mobile scanner should ask for permission first and respect and observe the rules of the archive, library or institution in which they wish to scan.
—Patrick Johnson, Social Media Specialist, Flip-Pal mobile scanner