[PADG:212] week-ending high notes

[Jacob Nadal <jnadal@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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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