Scanfest is Postponed Until September

Due to a number of reasons, I've decided to postpone Scanfest until September. We'll have family visiting in the area during the weekend I had planned the July Scanfest. The weekend I planned for the August Scanfest will be the first weekend after our next school year begins, and I always need that first weekend to recover! Additionally, I've been pretty busy working towards the Washington State Genealogical Society's 2009 State Conference, which will be held here in Spokane September 11 - 13 and hosted by my local society, the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. Finally, my main computer is down, I filled up my hard drive on my laptop scanning things my uncle brought for my mother during his visit last month, and I can't get my scanner's software to load on my daughter's laptop - all this means I can't scan, anyway. :-)

SO! We will resume Scanfest on Sunday, September 27th, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.

Enjoy your summer, and if you do your own scanning projects over the summer, remember these things:

1. Don't use commercial glass cleaners to clean your scanner's glass plate. Use a soft, clean cloth. If you must use a liquid, use water sprayed on the cloth, and make sure to let the plate dry thoroughly before placing photos or documents on it.

2. Wear cotton gloves (available at many art and/or photographer supply shops) when handling photos and old documents.

3. Don't slide the photos around on the glass plate. Place them exactly where you want them. Photos should NEVER be scanned by a scanner that feeds the document through the machine, but ALWAYS on a flat-bed scanner.

4. Set your scanner to scan at no smaller than 300 dpi (dots per inch). Many experts recommend 600 dpi for photographs.

5. Photographs should ALWAYS be scanned and saved as .tif files. Use "Save As" to reformat the .tif file to a .jpg file for restoration and touchups, emailing, or uploading to an online photo album. ALWAYS retain the original scan as a .tif file.

6. Documents can be scanned as .pdf files or .tif files.

7. When you are done scanning your photos, don't put them back in those nasty "magnetic" photo albums. Place them in archival safe albums or boxes found at websites such as Archival Products or Archival Suppliers. Do NOT store any newsprint (articles, obituaries, etc.) with the photos. The acid from the newspaper will eventually destroy the photograph.