In answer to the questions about digital copying in the searchroom I offer
the following thoughts.

If the first questioner, who referred to a 'hand held scanner', means just
that, a piece of equipment which one runs over a document, and which scans
using the usual scanning light, then my response would be two-fold.  First,
there is undoubtedly a light-damage risk, since the light used for scanning
has to include quite a high UV content.  Second, to allow searchers to do
this means risking repeated exposure to popular documents which would, in
time, result in light-damage.  Equally, the risks associated with allowing
a searcher to run the equipment over the item are, I think, not acceptable,
in the sense that you may have no control over them.  The risks involve the
extent of pressure used and possible danage, the risk of skating and
tearing and of damaging applied seals and other endorsements.

To the second questioner, who I think referred to digital cameras, my
answer runs on from the first.  The acceptable alternative to searchers
using scanners is searchers using digital cameras.  If the search-room is
reasonably well lit, there is no need for extra lights when using ordinary
digital cameras of the sort you can buy at Boots etc.  The camera works in
the same way as a conventional camera, so there is no contact with the
document.  My preferance would be to ban the use of hand-held scanners but
permit the use of digital cameras (if you are willing to lose some control
over copying.)

This last point is one worth considering.  The copyright/permissions issues
aside, there is good income to be had in offering the public a copying
service.  Digital copying for this purpose is relatively cheap for the
producer (you) compared with the old 'wet' photographic processes.  It also
allows you to control the number of times a document is copied and, over
time, you will build up a library of digital images which you can use (and
which the customer has paid for).  You will be able to check this library
to see if an item has been copied before.  If it has, you will not have the
attendant risks and costs associated with making a new copy - all you have
to do is print it out, or sent it to a photo-lab to print out, and recharge
your customer.  This is what we now do here at Dorset.  We have invested in
the highest resolution digital imaging equipment, but if you operate on a
shoestring you can do something similar with a standard camera and low-cost
lighting, as long as you are willing to accept that the quality won't be as
flexible.  In the long run, the control of the coping process serves both
preservation and your bottom line.

Of course all this presupposes you have a computer and a digital archiving
strategy, but then that's something we are all supposed to be addressing,
isn't it?

Chris Woods
Dorset Archives Service