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Re: soliciting input/advice (microfiliming project)



Renee,

You probably don't want to hear this, but you did ask for advice, so.....

You're probably right when you say you don't want to do 16mm microfilming.
You'd be even more right if you said you didn't want to do 35mm microfilming
either.   The correct answer is you don't want to microfilm at all...what you
really want to do is digitize.

If you scan your archives, you can preserve the look and feel of your
collection.  If you microfilm, you'll be forever working in grayscale.   With
an appropriate scan, you can keep the tone of parchment or the color of the
sepia print.  From the raw scans, you can go in a number of
directions...physical output to paper or film, electronic output (create a
CD-ROM of your collection's "greatest hits" for distribution, for example).
You can lock in a document as it is and post it on a server as a .PDF

Please don't misunderstand me here.  I believe that film is a wonderful
thing.  I will tell you that during my 15 years with the "Great Yellow
Father" in Rochester, I came to appreciate its advantages.  The problem is
that it is rather clunky...it can get lost, it can get scratched, it can get
damaged.  The more you handle it, the greater the potential for disaster.  It
is also difficult to make copies.  And no matter how you do copy a frame, it
will always appear to be a copy...just a little fuzzier, just a little "off".
 But when you make a copy of a digital original you have an exact copy.  The
"1" and "0" in a data stream won't go out of focus.

Argue the archival nature of CD-ROMs if you will.  The fact of the matter is
that when you have a gold-based CD, you've got a storage medium that will
last 2 or 3 times as long as film.  If you're using a recognized brand name
(such as Kodak), you've got a medium that will probably last longer than that
if you take care of it.

Jim Lewin
President
Image Delivery Systems
Suite 200
1101 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20003
vox: 202.544.6884
fax: 202.544.6889

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