Four years is a long time to wait. But for Dr. Elise Lewis, the School of Library and Information Studies, and the McKissick Museum, it was worth it now that the Arius 3D scanner has finally arrived. The Arius 3D scanner was delivered to the school in June. The wait began in 2007 when the school was approached by Arius 3D, a Canadian company, to establish an imaging center. Arius was looking for several universities that would have access to historical or valuable collections. Ours would be the first of its kind in the U.S. With the ability to work with McKissick, South Caroliniana Library and other archives and museums throughout the state, SLIS’s response was an enthusiastic “yes.”

Surprisingly small at two feet square plus the actual camera, the scanner uses laser technology along with proprietary software to create 3-dimensional images of objects. All components, including a week of on site training for Dr. Lewis and her team, are a part of the $1 million donation to our program.

One of the challenges for Dr. Lewis was finding space for the scanner, plus technician, and keeping the space adequately cooled. While scanning, the laser puts off a tremendous amount of heat which can interfere with the scanning procedure.

The unique value of the scanner is its ability to create digital records of artifacts that can be used for archiving and research by the collection owners. “Any images become the property of the collection owner. We’re more of a digitization shop,” is how Dr. Lewis describes the imaging center located in the North gallery of McKissick.

Dr. Lewis, in conjunction with staff from McKissick and the College of Arts and Sciences, will lead the ongoing project of scanning items from museum collections. Chess Schmidt, MLIS ’10, is the lab technician for the Arius scanner. Scanning an object is a painstaking process involving multiple steps. “It’s like putting pieces of a puzzle together,” Schmidt says.

Using proprietary software from Arius, separate images from a single object are pieced together using markers that guide where each part should fit. After that, software is used to edit the image, which can include color correcting and filling in spaces to better represent the object.

The imaging center’s first project is scanning the museum’s Catawba pottery collection, which involves 300 pieces that will likely take months to finish. Dr. Lewis is in the preliminary stages of identifying the next collection to be scanned.

In addition to the ongoing scanning, the Arius will also be part of a new exhibit at McKissick, starting Aug. 12, titled “Imaging the Invisible.” As Jill Koverman, Chief Curator of Collections and Research, describes, “It will take us from microscopes to nanotechnology.” Exhibit visitors will be able to watch Schmidt scan items that will become three-dimensional items for the exhibit.