In Demand

The past is never so important as when it's in danger of being devoured by time. For antiquarian libraries around the world, age and the environment are causing damage that many facilities are using as proof to vindicate reversal—or at least preservation—is needed. While reversing the effects of aging is a seemingly impossible task—as many deceiving products have already proven on people—Yale University discovered that digitization preserves archives longer than any tantamount preservation process has ever done. For the ivy league school, deteriorated books, records and research endangered not only the university's esteemed collection, but also one of the world's leading academic authority's collateral. Yale decided that by digitizing archives, important, usable files could be transferred to any end destination desired and reprinted. In other words, print on-demand.

Publishing is inspired by a simple theoretical idea: to reproduce a document. Despite the Internet and the influence of digital technologies, print publishing is the prime way information is disseminated to the masses. Print publishing's marketplace considers everything from book and magazine publishing to quick printing and copying. If anything, digitization has contributed significantly to how documents of all kinds get produced in print by transferring, saving, creating and editing them electronically. On-demand printing is one method in which documents are produced quickly, satisfying short turnaround times and economic production expectations. Much like the phrase denotes, "on-demand" printing is in high demand among content creators interested in customization. The digital technology applied to this process has not only provided greater optionality for end-destination, but also eliminated printing steps. For Yale University, the process meant that crumbling archives gone untouched, would find a renaissance among scholars. Not only would the digitization save materials, but it would also be an added revenue stream, successful since previously untouched material could suddenly be recirculated and reprinted with the school's permission.