[PADG:214] Re: week-ending high notes

[allison.krug@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Thanks for the Friday afternoon chuckle! It was classic.


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