Microfilm & Microfiche Services
Information or
content is the basis of our electronic society whether we like it or
not. Whether the information is in paper, electronic, visual or
audio form we come to realise the importance in preserving or archiving the
information so that future generation can learn from both our mistakes
and our discoveries.
The great IT wizards
and gurus have foretold that the electronic age is
upon us and it can store everything for hundreds of years. Well,
lets look back, commercial computers were around from the early 1970s
as large cumbersome systems. It was in the 1980s when the
personal computer started making computing available to everyone on
their desks. This when the rapid change started to occur.
In the 1990s the electronic change to desktop and laptop
accelerated. We now are experiencing IT changes that occur every
6 months and are providing computing in mobile phones.
Microfilm has been around since around 1850 or so. Yes it has
had
its changes that have occurred with the changing emulsion from an
acetate to polyester. Those changes occurred in the last 20-40
years not 6 monthly. Since 1980s the microfilm has been
stabilised with the introduction of the polyester base. However
the original microfilm or microfiche still can be
viewed on the latest microfilm reader without any conversion.
As microfilm is the only medium that is
independent of any technology,
it relies on a light source and a
magnifying glass.
Now lets examine both options for archiving/preserving a legal document
(50 pages) for 50-100 years. The original letter was created
using Microsoft Word.
With technology what are my
options to
store as a PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF or TIF format and hope that technology
does not change too rapidly and make the format unreadable due to
version incapability or the adoption of a new electronic document
standard. Where will I store the document on the network server
or backup server, will the server be still around in 50-100years? Will
the
Operating System still be compatible with my document? What
protection is there in place to prevent the document from being
destroyed by a virus or changed by a "hacker" or inadvertently deleted?
There appears to be a lot of unknowns that increases the risk of the
original document changing.
Now with microfilm I decided
to store
it onto a 16mm microfilm that has been copied and put into a Microfiche
Jacket. I chose to store the camera master in a climate
controlled cold room at the archives and have the microfiche jacket
stored in a box in a fireproof safe.
In 50-100 years from now which format of the document will I TRUST to
be exactly the same as the original. You guessed it, the
microfilm version as once the
document has been microfilmed it can
not
been changed, on the
microfilm. Whereas with technology the only
format that has lasted from the late 1970s to now is TIF and is about
to be replaced by PDF-A as the new long-term archive document
standard. Imagine what the standard for electronic document
preservation will be in another 30 years.
WIN to Microfilm for Long-term archive and preservation of
information
WIN to technology for Ease of
access and sharing of information.
Microfilm/Microfiche and Technology both have a place in our business
environment for
specific reasons and
functions.
Want to know more about our microfilm
services, then click on the
various services listed below:
Click
here for more information