When the University of Virginia was looking for a simple and versatile Book Cradle that did not cost an arm, a leg and your first born, it handed a rough sketch to John Riser, a master cabinet maker who worked at the library. John then built the so-called "Cherry Wood" cradle. Since that time John Riser has continued to make these cradles one at a time. In 2002, John asked AIA to take over the marketing and distribution of his product, and AIA has made some modifications.

The Riser cradle can be used as a 180 degree cradle for two-up scanning, or adjusted to acute angles up to 80 degrees. It comes with a set of small platforms, 8.5 x 11 and large platforms, 16.5 x 23.5. Each platform can be moved in the horizontal direction to create the minimum amount of space required to support the spine of a book. Special plastic fingers hold down the loose pages and can be adjusted to the thickness of the volume as it is scanned. The Riser Cradle also allows the end user to choose to use glass to hold down a page (or not).