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