Yes, I do the same thing to "chop" a book. I remove the cover by hand, and then use an industrial-strength chopper that's in the office, right behind where I was sitting in the CBS video. The chopper goes through paperbacks, even 400 page ones, like a hot knife through butter. Hardbound books are a different story. Because the pages are thicker, I usually cut the book into 200-page sections, and then have to use most of my weight to get the blade through the pages. Luckily most publishers try to have the same inside margin next to the spine, but occasionally the margin will vary and I'll chop off some words on several pages. This is what happened when I chopped a February New York Times bestseller, The Winter Lodge. There are probably 20 pages with words chopped off, so I have to check those pages very carefully and type in the complete word. Sigh! At least all the other bestsellers were okay. I'll try to get all the easy bestsellers (and the ones people have requested) into the collection first, then validate the harder ones (the non-fiction ones and The Winter Lodge). Carrie agoldringtajalli <agoldringtajalli@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: v\:* { BEHAVIOR: url (#default#vml) } v\:* { BEHAVIOR: url (#default#vml) } 79F8FDE2-E90C-4120-9A2C-E484CCFAA091 http://us.f305.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Upload?Data=upl1824525316 repeat #f3eded left top BCEB29C0-42D3-11D4-BA3E-0050DAC68030 0 BCEB29C0-42D3-11D4-BA3E-0050DAC68030 1 A5BE2A00-37CC-11D4-BA36-0050DAC68030 0 A5BE2A00-37CC-11D4-BA36-0050DAC68030 1 601231A0-325F-11D4-BA2D-0050DAC68030 0 X-ASN,X-ASH,X-AN,X-AP,X-AD ; Jamie, For those who do not already know how to "chop" a book - painful though it may seem - this is how I did it - I removed the cover as one piece and then had the "spine" cut off by the nearest hardware store like Ace's or Lowe's or you local store. It may seem dreadful but sometimes it not only facilitates the use of the ADF scanner but the use of a normal scanner. In addition, it insures that the words on the inner margins will be included without distortion. I did it when I was scanning so that I could insure that the whole pages would be clear. It is a choice between having one book for myself or having a really good copy of a book for Bookshare. And I can always keep the cover with the loose pages to use to check the original when validating the copy. And if I want my heirs to inherit the book they will be happy to have something from me even in that form. I would not recommend doing it to first printings and first editions; Nor to very valuable editions. One book I splurged and bought in paperback to avoid harming my hardback while still getting a copy I could read from the scan. I needed the scan to read but would not harm the good edition and it was worth the $ to get the paperback. In most cases I would not, could not afford to do that but I really wanted to read the book. As for annotating your own books by highlighting or writing notes. For books you will keep the notes will help you when you next read it or use it for reference and may also trigger memories of a time and place - hopefully good. You might also find you are adding notes each time you read it. Some of my books have sections with multi-colored comments and under-linings. Some books I have lent or given to people who were grateful for my notes. It is different if you need to resell the books but for keepers, do yourself the favor and highlight and make notes for your future or your offspring. Amy in Florida - stay warm -------Original Message------- From: Jamie Yates Date: 2/26/2007 12:31:28 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Book chopping or other defacing Carrie, I still can't bring myself to highlight or write in a textbook. My classmates have no qualms about it but man some of my books in the past have cost a couple hundred dollars EACH. And some bookstores are so picky you can't sell them back with highlighting. Of course when I buy a used one in the bookstore I look for ones with highlighting especially if I am pretty sure it was used on that campus. Chances are what was important for the previous user by that professor is going to be important to me. But I won't mark it up myself. I loved seeing your ADF scanner in the video and how fast that must be but I'm not sure I could chop a book myself. How DO you chop a book, anyway? Jamie in Michigan To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line. --------------------------------- Never Miss an Email Stay connected with Yahoo! Mail on your mobile. Get started!