Scan a portion of a book or magazine at the library, then save it to a flash drive or CD. Email it to yourself and every member of your study group. You never have to worry about accidentally crumpling or losing your paper copy. Save research materials onto a flash drive, and plug it into your laptop whenever you have extra time to work. Copy the files to your home computer for a backup. Print out copies anytime you wish on a home, work or library printer.
Many libraries offer free scans for regular materials and a small fee for archival material that requires special handling. Anyone who has used a copy machine knows it often takes several tries to get a clear copy of a tightly bound book or a dark photo. Each failed copy costs money whereas a failed scan can be deleted and attempted again for no charge. Multiple copies of an article for a study group used to add up, but emailed copies can be sent for free.
Copying whole chapters and magazine articles adds up to a lot of paper. Add in failed copy attempts, and a single research project could use up a ream of paper. Scanning the documents instead keeps the materials accessible without using up so much paper. Email copies to friends or your book club rather than using more paper to make copies. Going paperless is good for the environment, but it also saves the library money. This allows room in their budget for more research materials and new technology.
Use a copy machine to duplicate a photo in an art book or magazine, and the results are often dismal, even with color copiers. Faxing a copy leads to further distortion, often rendering the photo useless. Scan the materials instead for a clearer picture that you can study on your home computer or laptop. Load the file into a photo editing program, and create display materials for your class or meeting presentation. Print the pictures and graphs on a laser or photo printer, or take the file to an expert printer.
Most libraries have special collections with rare and valuable books. Previously, these materials could only be accessed by visiting the library directly. Traveling to another state or country for research is not often feasible, so many students and scholars had to do without those documents. The development of scanner technology allows libraries to carefully scan these materials once, and make the digital copies permanently available online. Librarians can also make paper copies from the digital files to send by mail and fax.
Scanning portions of a work for personal use or study is considered "fair use" of that work. Avoid copying entire books unless they are in the public domain. Do not post scanned copies of copyrighted materials anywhere online without permission from the author or copyright holder. See Resources for more information on fair use.