Out-of-print digital scanning an acquisitions and preservation alternative

This article describes the in-house operational procedures developed at the Penn State University Libraries to produce facsimiles of hard-to-locate, out-of-print (OP) titles using digital scanning technologies. Since the out-of-print scan (OP/Scan) reproduction service was launched in 1995, more than a hundred titles have been added to the libraries' circulating collections. This process, a collaborative effort by the Acquisitions Services Department, the Preservation Department, the Office of Interlibrary Loan, and the University's Office of Copyright Clearance, has enabled the libraries to reduce the turnaround time for acquiring OP titles from years to only several months. Operational procedures developed by the four library units, including identification and selection, copyright considerations, materials preparation, scanning, and associated costs are described.