[PADG:213] RE: week-ending high notes

["Frost, Gary " <gary-frost@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jacob,

I love your narrations of student interest in microfilm. Because we now
have a generation well skilled in screen based reading, they are well
impressed with film projection. They are only disconcerted by the
non-digital features of the platform and display. These students are
totally not disconcerted by back lit representation or by the
transforming scroll rendition. They are probably even amused by the
scratch striations imposed in the positive.

It's the prevalent reading skills that induce enthusiasm or resistance
to a given format. Our job is to keep a diversity of reading skills and
an exciting interplay of formats well preserved.

Gary 




Gary Frost
Conservator
University of Iowa Libraries
100 Main Library
Iowa City, IA, 52242

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-padg@xxxxxxx [mailto:owner-padg@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jacob
Nadal
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2004 10:53 AM
To: padg@xxxxxxx
Subject: [PADG:212] week-ending high notes

I was having a discussion with a friend who teaches undergraduate 
English and composition classes at Emory, and she mentioned 
off-handedly that the part of one of her "get to know the library" 
assignments that the students really enjoyed was using the microfilm. 
My jaw dropped and I demanded to know more. Apparently all of the 
"future generations, yet unborn" for whom we've been doing all this 
preservation work have gone and gotten themselves born. And they seem 
to be grateful! Here then, a sample of the responses she received from 
students having their first encounters with the tiny wonder medium:

She writes:
   Well, they were looking at old newspapers. They were really into 
seeing
   what kinds of things were happening, what kinds of things were 
reported,
   and were fascinated by the ads. None of which is microfilm specific, 
or
   course. But they seem glad to know how to use it now. Here's a quote 
from
   one student's brief essay on the matter. It represents about a 
quarter of
   what he wrote:

   "Preceding this assignment I had never heard of microfilm or much
less
   had any idea how to use it. I actually found it quite fascinating 
that it
   is possible to find virtually any article written in many major
   periodicals over the past couple centuries, and view it through a
   projector. Microfilm will largely come in handy while working on a
   project involving past events and various views on them. The fact
that
   there are many different periodicals to choose from allows one to
find
   different views on a topic that was covered by many different 
writers. "

   and another:

   "Of all the assignments, I found the microfilm aspect to be the most
   difficult as well as the most rewarding. Simply put, I had absolutely

no
   idea how to use that machine. After many unsuccessful efforts and a
   consultation with a passerby, I was finally able to properly load the
   film into the machine. My troubles were not over, however. The film
   viewer conveyed the articles, but they were all upside down. It must 
have
   taken at least ten minutes of fumbling around with buttons and dials
   until I located the proper knob to adjust the viewing angle. I
believe
   that using the microfilm reader will prove to be the most useful 
skill in
   my future classes. I was astonished to look at actual newspaper 
articles
   from the 1950s. Microfilm, while not exactly a technological marvel, 
will
   certainly add many depths and layers to my research in the years to
   come."

   and

   "The third assignment was definitely the most useful task during the
   project. The assistant helped me locate the microfilm of The New York
   Times and I continued picking out the appropriate date. After I 
procured
   the correct microfilm, the assistant loaded the microfilm and briefed

me
   on how to use the device. After finding October 20, 1954, I focused 
the
   image and began printing. I read some of the articles inside the
   newspaper and was intrigued by numerous things in the newspaper. The
   final assignment went by very quickly and I had no problems finding 
the
   information."

TGIF, everyone,
Jake


---------------------------------------------
Jacob Nadal
Head, E. Lingle Craig Preservation Laboratory
Indiana University Libraries
(812) 855-6281 | mailto:jnadal@xxxxxxxxxxx
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