Microfilm storage has to be special.
It has a long life expectancy but it must be kept in temperature and humidity
controlled environment and left in special sealed containers. Only working
copies should be used for retrieval purposes. No more than five working copies
should be made from the master copy. Additional working copies should be made
from a working copy.
One can see a lot of variations
also. Some companies keep their masters in an air-conditioned room, but few
businesses follow all the requirements for a long life expectancy. Many
companies don't even keep their master copies in a controlled environment at
all more frequently the only original is used as the working copy. These errors
in usage make the lifespan of microfilm much shorter. So age depends on its
storage.
Microform formats such as film,
aperture cards, and microfiche were the considered to be the most efficient way
to archive documents during the early part of the 20th century. The process
enabled companies to store data in a form that is as much as 25 times smaller
than the original document. This made it possible to store and index entire
libraries in a fraction of the space required by the original documents.
The emergence of digital image
formats and the continually lowering costs of data storage, however, have
rendered microfilm obsolete. It's now entirely possible to store a microfilm
library in a device that can fit in the palm of one's hand.
Digitizing
microfilm archives carries a number of advantages that organizations can
leverage in order to enhance operations and workflow. Efficient and
cost-effective data backup and recovery, easy retrieval, and significantly
reduced storage overhead costs are just some of the benefits that can be gained
from modernizing microform libraries.
Most people dislike microfilm,
primarily because retrieval is time consuming and poor image quality makes the
documents difficult to read. Document Scanning requires physical proximity to
the film viewing equipment. Searching for a particular document on microfiche
may require scanning 50 or more pages.
When using a company to complete microfilm scanning, make sure to check out some of their previous work by requesting
samples, preferably of your own fiche and also go and see the bureau in action
if you are located closely if you are still unsure. If they are a serious
company, they will happily allow you to come along and see the process of
document scanning.
Microfilm conversion is simply the
logical way forward as is converting all documents into digital formats. It has
become more than a mere luxury and is now essential for a lot of companies for
the sake of their efficiency, time and costs.
Microfilm Scanning, Processing,
Microfilm Conversion and plotting all are available now.