In a message dated 07/05/2000 3:45:17 PM Central Daylight Time, deb@dm.net writes: << a big warm fuzzy for scanning and putting online all the bios out of these old history books -- I have a few old books, which I am attempting to scan in, too, and it's a good deal more time consuming than I thought it would be to begin with. >> Scanning in? Don't I wish! The current OCR software makes so many errors it's just as fast to type them all in as it is to go back and correct all the errors. I wish it were as easy as scanning! I can't wait until the OCR software improves to the point where this can be done. I'm looking into a handheld scanner for about $280 that can be used to scan pages (books, plat maps, etc.) that researchers cannot check out of libraries. It looks promising, but you need to have a laptop along, as its memory isn't that great, so you have to download frequently to the laptop. I guess the more technology we get, the more we want! I love new toys. I don't have the handheld one yet, as there are very few distributors as yet. A friend of mine recently got one, and I'm waiting to hear how it does with OCR. Best regards, Cathy Kubly State Coordinator, WIGenExchange ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WIGenExchange (select desired county) http://www.genexchange.org/state.cfm?state=wi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kenosha Co WIGenExchange http://www.genexchange.org/county.cfm?state=wi&county=kenosha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lafayette Co WIGenExchange http://www.genexchange.org/county.cfm?state=wi&county=lafayette ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Help Keep Genealogy Free For Online Genealogists http://www.genexchange.org/volunteers.cfm#cc