Microforms obsolete?

Despite the fact that the death knell of microforms has been repeatedly sounded in the library press for the past 10 years, I do not see the format going away anytime soon. A lot of libraries have invested too much money in the format for it to just disappear overnight.

I keep hearing that all of the microforms should be digitized: both from patrons and from the library world. However, there are issues blocking that from happening anytime soon: copyright, time (it will take a lot of time to digitize all of the microforms in existence), money to finance it, server issues, then who can get access and for what cost and et cetera.

We did a weeding project this summer in which we recycled the fiche and film that we now have electronic access to. I imagine that other libraries are working on similar projects.


I do not mind microforms -- they are a good way to compress a lot of information into a small area. But electronic access has added indexing and searching that is so much more accessible than microforms ever could be. The end of microforms may not have come but the time is drawing near.

At some point the ability to access the microform format might become so burdensome that a tipping point will be reached and digitization will be forced to occur. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get parts for microform readers and increasingly expensive to maintain them as the switch to electronic access continues to accelerate.

Recycling old journals

Due to space issues, we are recycling old journals that we have available through JSTOR and MUSE. It has been an interesting process. I felt badly, though, about all of those old journals being chopped up...and the beautiful buckram bindings going to waste. In a stroke of great luck, while reading a professional journal, I happened on a story about someone that makes old books into purses. So, as I have been weeding the stacks and recycling the journals, I have been keeping some back to make journal purses for presents. If you would like the instructions, just type "book purse" into a search engine and all sorts of great sites pop up...once I make my own this summer, I will post a photo.