Either strapped for cash, or with a diminishing capability to call upon bindery departments of their own, an increasing number of libraries have little option other than to archive books, texts and periodicals in digitised form. While preservation in that way is hardly new, what is unusual is to find it being carried out by the very craftsmanship that the PDF is indirectly helping to supersede.

Rather than being diminished by digitisation, H&M has embraced it – and with a technology equal, if not superior, to that of most of the imaging bureaux that have effectively seen off all bar a handful of its trade competitors. In addition to a £1m installed conventional plant inventory, including the full set of sewing, gluing and hot foil blocking equipment, its ace in the hole is the Kirtas APT book scanner, of which it was the UK’s first and sole adopter and also exclusive reseller, with six systems installed to date.

Arguably one of the quirkier technologies that Xerox allowed to slip out of Palo Alto, Kirtas is the complete antithesis of the Leeds bindery’s predominantly human touch when it comes to handling old and often extremely fragile documents. For libraries looking to de- and re-bind books, as well as have them scanned for posterity, it’s proving to be a godsend, says joint managing director Richard Hollingworth.

You’ll probably find digital imaging bureaux have a different range of digital capturing equipment but won’t have library binding. We’ve learned a new skill-set to hold on to work that would have gone elsewhere. Orders are processed within two weeks, and we’re servicing more than 600 UK universities and other libraries, including the British and the Natural History museums. The book scanning division now accounts for around 18% of our £1.6m turnover.

Having embarked along the digital track, one thing has inevitably led to another as H&M now produces some academic texts itself. MyThesis.co.uk is an online service that thousands of UK and overseas students have used over the past two years to have their dissertations printed and finished to library standard. With a range of templates to choose from, the average cost for a Xerox DCS250-generated 300pp thesis, converted to PDF from a word file, proofed and delivered with hard case library-standard archival binding, is around £22; less than the price of most desktop inkjet cartridges.

The next step could be to extend into full book production, says Richard Hollingworth. We’re already printing theses on demand, and as we’re digitising books, we could give customers the option of having short-run facsimile versions. So where there are books that are out of print, we could provide as many copies as they require.

It’s operating within a defined niche, so its impact is unlikely to ever set the world on fire. Nevertheless, Hollingworth & Moss is proving that with the willingness to do what Richard Hollingworth refers to as thinking outside the bubble, it is possible for an old dog to acquire some very slick new tricks.

Des King is a Printing World contributor with an eye on the finishing line. Email him at: thewritestuff@ntlworld.com