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Microfilm



As one who often introduces undergraduates to primary research, I'm inclined to smile at the characterization of microfilm making research incredibly tedious. Most research involves a fair amount of tedium. Personally, I'll take microfilm of newspapers over hand-written (scribbled) sermons. Yes, there is a certain thrill handling an original but when faced with going through dozens of folders to find one or two pertinent letters, the novelty fades a bit.
 
Further, in my collection having our college newspapers on microfilm makes it much easier to make photocopies. The bound originals are large and cumbersome. It's too easy to damage them trying to get the right section on the copier. And outside my immediate collection, the fact the my library can purchase microfilm collections of women's diaries, pamphlet collections, etc., means that our students can do a wider range of research. They would never have the resources to travel to all the places the materials are housed and the originals could never withstand the usage if it was possible. Any tedium is clearly offset by the increased access.
 
As Peter says, we need to consider the materials and the purposes for microfilming or digitizing. One size does not fit all. 

Jan Blodgett
jablodgett@davidson.edu
College Archivist and Records Management Coordinator
Davidson College, Davidson, NC