[toomuchtodo]

There are providers [1] that will destructively scan the book for you and return a PDF. If you want to preserve the book, you're stuck using a scanning rig [2]. The Internet Archive will also non-destructively scan as part of Open Library [3], but they only permit one checkout at a time of scanned works, and the latency can be high between sending them a book and it becoming available. FYI, 600 DPI is preferred for archival purposes.

[1] http://1dollarscan.com/ (no affiliation, just a satisfied customer, can't scan certain textbooks due to publisher threats of litigation)

[2] https://www.diybookscanner.org/

[3] https://openlibrary.org/help/faq

[bumbledraven]

A big +1 for 1dollarscan.com. They've scanned many hundreds of books for me. The quality of the resulting PDFs is uniformly excellent, their turnaround time is fast, and their prices are cheap ($1 per 100 pages).

I've visited their office -- located in an inexpensive industrial district of San Jose -- on multiple occasions. They have a convenient process for receiving books in person.

I believe the owners are Japanese and the operation reminds me of the businesses I visited in Tokyo: quiet, neat, and über-efficient.

[dunstad]

> quiet, neat, and über-efficient

I wish the same could be said for the Tokyo office I work in!

[abawany]

I will add a vote for bookscan.us, which I have been using since 2013 or so. Very reasonable prices and great service.