Of course, we all love digitization. We use it to share both interesting and vital information online. Digitization is very important especially in providing easy access to archival materials that might be damaged by handling. It’s also very useful as a backup medium.
But do you value its hard-working counterpart–microfilm? Well, you might be wondering why you should right? The truth is that microfilm is more important than many people think.
Why Microfilm is Important
I bet you’ve been told many times that digitization has replaced microfilm and it’s no longer a valuable media. The increased speed coupled with ease of access to current data for use by the public has made digital images very popular. Furthermore, the power of technological advances also makes digital images very appealing.
Have you ever imagined how it would be if all your historical records were digitized? In fact, it sounds like the right tech savvy way to manage very valuable records for the unclear future.
It’s unfortunate that many people often minimize the risk of these “archive” digital files. They can and actually do become unstable and corrupt or even get lost. This risks the validity of your company’s or personal recorded history. To preserve the records, many locations and backups are required. It’s also very expensive to upgrade hardware and software on a regular basis.
Stable and enduring
When it comes to preservation of recorded history, no available tools beat microfilm. For example, a microfilm image of a book, a newspaper, and historic map and so on, will preserve that image for more than 500 years. So, when I say microfilm is stable and enduring, you can see what I mean.
Simple and flexible
Microfilm is the simplest and most flexible preservation tool for recorded history. It can easily be used in tandem with other media. You can digitize microfilm easily for ease of access. Additionally, you can microfilm digitized images effortlessly, which means that anything stored in microfilm can be digitized and vice versa. The fact that it’s this flexible and simple makes it the best format to protect your history. This also makes it a usable and amazing tool for future generations.
Less expensive
Compared to other preservation tools for recorded history, microfilm is extremely cost effective. Of course, recording documents on microfilm and making a copy or print will cost you the same amount of money. However, it’s more cost effective to store documents on microfilm over time than digital storage. For digital storage, there would be need for recurrent hardware and software upgrades especially when migrating digital data.
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