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California State Library

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The California State Library is the state library of the State of California, founded in 1850 by the California State Legislature . The Library collects, preserves, generates and disseminates a wide array of information. Today, it is the central reference and research library for state government and the Legislature. The California State Library advises, consults with and provides technical assistance to California's public libraries . It directs state and federal funds to support local public libraries and statewide library programs, including Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grants. The California State Library's mission is to serve as "...the state’s information hub, preserving California’s cultural heritage and connecting people, libraries and government to the resources and tools they need to succeed and to build a strong California." With the exception of the Sutro Library in the J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University , the other two branches are located in Sacramento, California , at 914 Capitol Mall and 900 N Street. A third branch, located in the California State Capitol , closed in 2020 in preparation for the demolition of the Annex and is expected to return when the new building is completed.

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69-582: The California State Library makes a wide range of services available to Californians. The library provides reference services to visitors of the library, as well as those contacting the California State Library via phone, fax , letter, email or TDD . Visitors are welcome to use the library collections on site. The library's circulating materials are loaned to the public through local libraries. Other services include Braille and recorded books, use of computers with internet access, online access to

138-473: A book or journal article, instruction in the use of specific searchable information resources such as the library's online catalog or subscription bibliographic/full text databases , or simply factual information drawn from the library's print or online reference collection . Information is also provided to patrons through electronic resources. Typically, a reference desk can be consulted either in person, by telephone, through email or online chat, although

207-416: A broad spectrum of research and policy options and do not advocate a particular viewpoint. Each report includes essential background information, key data developed by CRB and other researchers, and a summary of the policy debate. The Government Publications Section includes a full federal depository library and the state's largest collection of California state government publications. The section serves as

276-537: A collection of genealogical resources, such as state and local histories, and family histories. Apart from genealogical records for California, Sutro has records for all other states, including the U.S. Census from 1790 to 1920 (on microfilm) and materials helpful in tracing genealogy in foreign countries. The collection was built upon the donation of Adolph Sutro , and contains many rare books. Sutro further emphasizes British studies of science, voyages and travels prior to 1900, Mexican history, and Hebraica . Sutro Library

345-497: A computer to settle the returns for each bet once the details of the wager have been 'translated' into the system by an employee. The added efficiency of this digital system has ensured that there are now very few, if indeed any, betting offices continuing to use microfilm cameras in the UK. Visa and National City use microfilm (roll microfilm and fiche) to store financial, personal, and legal records. Source code for computer programs

414-595: A drawing that is 2.00 × 2.80 metres, that is 79 × 110 in. These films are stored as microfiche. 16 mm or 35 mm film to motion picture standard is used, usually unperforated. Roll microfilm is stored on open reels or put into cassettes. The standard lengths for using roll film is 30.48 m (100 ft) for 35 mm rolls, and 100 ft, 130 ft and 215 feet for 16 mm rolls. One roll of 35 mm film may carry 600 images of large engineering drawings or 800 images of broadsheet newspaper pages. 16 mm film may carry 2,400 images of letter-sized images as

483-465: A library reference desk may include: Services that are often available at a library reference desk include: The librarian who staffs the reference desk can usually do the following by virtue of their professional training and experience: In the United States , those who staff library reference desks are usually required to have a master's degree in library science from a program accredited by

552-472: A library user may be asked to come to the library in person for help with more involved research questions. A staffed and knowledgeable reference desk is an essential part of a library. The services that are provided at a reference desk may vary depending on the type of library, its purpose, its resources, and its staff. The services of circulation and reference desks are also sometimes combined. Reference services did not become commonplace in libraries until

621-483: A light source; this is the negative of text on paper. COM is sometimes processed normally. Other applications require that image appears as a conventional negative; the film is then reversal processed. This outputs either 16 mm film or fiche pages on a 105 mm roll. Because listing characters are a simple design, a reduction ratio of 50 gives good quality and puts about 300 pages on a microfiche. A microfilm plotter, sometimes called an aperture card plotter, accepts

690-584: A matrix of microimages. All microfiche are read with their text parallel to the long side of the fiche . Frames may be landscape or portrait in orientation . Along the top of the fiche a title may be recorded for visual identification. The most commonly used format is a portrait image of about 10 × 14 mm. Office-size papers or magazine pages require a reduction of 24 or 25 in size. Microfiche are stored in open-top envelopes, which are put in drawers or boxes as file cards or fitted into pockets in purpose-made books. Ultrafiche (also "ultramicrofiche" )

759-452: A means of keeping compact records of bets taken. Betting shop customers would sometimes attempt to amend their betting slip receipt to attempt fraud, and so the microphotography camera (which also generally contained its own independent time-piece) found use as a definitive means of recording the exact details of each and every bet taken. The use of microphotography has now largely been replaced by digital 'bet capture' systems, which also allow

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828-545: A method to microformat dissertations, and in 1934 the United States National Agriculture Library implemented the first microform print-on-demand service, which was quickly followed by a similar commercial concern, Science Service. In 1935, Kodak's Recordak division began filming and publishing The New York Times on reels of 35 millimeter microfilm, ushering in the era of newspaper preservation on film. This method of information storage received

897-401: A reduced size. The prints were on photographic paper and did not exceed 40 mm, to permit insertion in a goose-quill or thin metal tube, which protected against the elements. The pigeons each carried a dispatch that was tightly rolled and tied with a thread, and then attached to a tail feather of the pigeon. The dispatch was protected by being inserted in the quill, which was then attached to

966-401: A reduction ratio of 160:1. Dancer refined his reduction procedures with Frederick Scott Archer 's wet collodion process , developed in 1850–51, but he dismissed his decades-long work on microphotographs as a personal hobby and did not document his procedures. The idea that microphotography could be no more than a novelty was an opinion shared in the 1858 Dictionary of Photography , which called

1035-412: A simple, inexpensive ($ 2.00 in 1950), monocular microfilm viewing device, known as the "Seidell viewer", that was sold during the 1940s and 1950s. A microfilm printer contains a xerographic copying process, like a photocopier . The image to be printed is projected with synchronised movement on to the drum. These devices offer either small image preview for the operator or full size image preview, when it

1104-414: A single film may be inserted into a dark slide or the camera may be fitted with a roll film holder which after an exposure advances the film into a box and cuts the frame off the roll for processing as a single film. For engineering drawings, a freestanding open steel structure is often provided. A camera may be moved vertically on a track. Drawings are placed on a large table for filming, with centres under

1173-406: A single stream of microimages along the film set so that lines of text are parallel to the sides of the film or 10,000 small documents, perhaps cheques or betting slips, with both sides of the originals set side by side on the film. Aperture cards are Hollerith cards into which a hole has been cut. A 35 mm microfilm chip is mounted in the hole inside of a clear plastic sleeve or secured over

1242-401: A square inch, and that a one-foot cube could contain 1.5 million volumes. In 1906, Paul Otlet and Robert Goldschmidt proposed the livre microphotographique as a way to alleviate the cost and space limitations imposed by the codex format. Otlet's overarching goal was to create a World Center Library of Juridical, Social and Cultural Documentation, and he saw microfiche as a way to offer

1311-554: A stable and durable format that was inexpensive, easy to use, easy to reproduce, and extremely compact. In 1925, the team spoke of a massive library where each volume existed as master negatives and positives, and where items were printed on demand for interested patrons. In the 1920s, microfilm began to be used in a commercial setting. New York City banker George McCarthy was issued a patent in 1925 for his "Checkograph" machine, designed to make micrographic copies of cancelled checks for permanent storage by financial institutions. In 1928,

1380-470: A step and repeat mechanism to advance the film after each exposure. The simpler versions use a dark slide loaded by the operator in a dark room; after exposure the film is individually processed, which may be by hand or using a dental X-ray processor. Cameras for high output are loaded with a roll of 105 mm film. The exposed film is developed as a roll; this is sometimes cut to individual fiche after processing or kept in roll form for duplication. Equipment

1449-670: A storage medium than earlier methods of film information storage, such as the Photoscope, the Film-O-Graph, the Fiske-O-Scope, and filmslides. The year 1938 also saw another major event in the history of microfilm when University Microfilms International (UMI) was established by Eugene Power . For the next half century, UMI would dominate the field, filming and distributing microfilm editions of current and past publications and academic dissertations. After another short-lived name change, UMI

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1518-411: A stream that might be sent to a computer pen plotter. It produces corresponding frames of microfilm. These produce microfilm as 35 or 16 mm film or aperture cards. Computer Output Microfiche was used to distribute massive amounts of frequently changed data to institutions or companies which could not afford computer terminals but already used microfiche readers for a variety of reasons. In some cases

1587-629: Is affiliated with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress . It loans recorded and Braille books and magazines to Northern Californians who cannot read standard print due to visual or physical limitations. Special players to listen to the books are also loaned. The reading room houses assistive devices such as print magnifiers and scanners with voice output. The borrowing of materials in this collection

1656-482: Is an exceptionally compact version of a microfiche or microfilm, storing analog data at much higher densities. Ultrafiche can be created directly from computers using appropriate peripherals. They are typically used for storing data gathered from extremely data-intensive operations such as remote sensing. Microcards are an opaque, non-reversed format, sometimes known as microopaques. They were invented in 1948 by Fremont Rider and described in his book, The Scholar and

1725-449: Is available that accepts a data stream from a computer; this exposes film to produce images as if the stream had been sent to a line printer and the listing had been microfilmed. The process is known as computer output microfilm or computer output microfiche (COM). Using the daguerreotype process, John Benjamin Dancer was one of the first to produce microphotographs , in 1839. He achieved

1794-402: Is available that accepts a data stream from a mainframe computer. This exposes film to produce images as if the stream had been sent to a line printer and the listing had been microfilmed. Because of the source one run may represent many thousands of pages. The process is known as computer output microfilm or computer output microfiche (COM). Within the equipment character images are made by

1863-581: Is built into a box. In some versions this is for bench top use, other versions are portable. The operator maintains a stack of material to be filmed in a tray, the camera automatically takes one document after another for advancement through the machine. The camera lens sees the documents as they pass a slot. Film behind the lens advances exactly with the image. Special purpose flow cameras film both sides of documents, putting both images side by side on 16 mm film. These cameras are used to record cheques and betting slips. All microfiche cameras are planetary with

1932-411: Is called a reader printer. Microform printers can accept positive or negative films and positive or negative images on paper. New machines allow the user to scan a microform image and save it as a digital file. 105 × 148 mm flat film is used for microimages of very large engineering drawings. These may carry a title photographed or written along one edge. Typical reduction is about 20, representing

2001-423: Is in use. They may offer a choice of magnifications. They usually have motors to advance and rewind film. When coding blips are recorded on the film a reader is used that can read the blips to find any required image. Portable readers are plastic devices that fold for carrying; when open they project an image from microfiche on to a reflective screen. For example, with M. de Saint Rat , Atherton Seidell developed

2070-621: Is limited to eligible customers specially registered for the service. The California State Library has been providing braille and "talking books" since the 1930s, promoting their services through local libraries throughout the state of California. The California History Room has current and historical information on California people, places and events. Materials in the collection include California phone books and city directories, California periodicals, newspapers and newspaper indexes, information files, pioneer letters, and information on California genealogy . One special collection available here that

2139-525: Is located on the 5th Floor of the J. Paul Leonard Library on the San Francisco State University campus. Reference desk The reference desk or information desk of a library is a public service counter where professional librarians provide library users with direction to library materials, advice on library collections and services, and expertise on multiple kinds of information from multiple sources. Library users can consult

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2208-504: Is not limited to California is the American Haiku Archives, which includes books, papers, letters, and other material relating to haiku poetry by poets from around North America. This archive is the world's largest public collection of haiku and related materials outside Japan . The California Research Bureau prepares in-depth research reports on policy questions of interest to state officials. These non-partisan reports examine

2277-497: Is provided 16, 35 and 105 mm wide in lengths of 30 metres (100 ft) and longer, and is usually unperforated. Roll film is developed, fixed and washed by continuous processors. Sheet film is supplied in ISO A6 size. This is either processed by hand or using a dental X-ray processor. Camera film is supplied ready mounted in aperture cards. Aperture cards are developed, fixed and washed immediately after exposure by equipment fitted to

2346-533: The American Library Association . However, if there is a lack of qualified applicants, particularly in rural areas, a person with an associate degree , a certificate in library technology, or a bachelor's degree in library science may perform these duties. In many academic libraries, student assistants are used as the primary contact, sometimes at an "information desk". In Sri Lanka , librarians at reference desks typically have master's degrees from

2415-889: The Eastman Kodak Company bought McCarthy's invention and began marketing check microfilming devices under its "Recordak" division. Between 1927 and 1935, the Library of Congress microfilmed more than three million pages of books and manuscripts in the British Library ; in 1929 the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies joined to create a Joint Committee on Materials for Research, chaired for most of its existence by Robert C. Binkley , which looked closely at microform's potential to serve small print runs of academic or technical materials. In 1933, Charles C. Peters developed

2484-882: The OCLC symbols CAX and SUTRO. There are eight sections of the California State Library: The Bernard E. Witkin State Law Library, Braille and Talking Book Library, the California History Room, the California Research Bureau, Government Publications, Information Services, Library Development Services Bureau, and the Sutro Library. The law library collection contains standard primary and secondary legal resources in American law . Materials in

2553-863: The California Library Distribution Act. It is also an official Patent and Trademark Resource Center. The Information Services staff manages the State Library's general, circulating and reference collections. Materials in the collection are primarily in subject areas of interest to State government such as business, education, environment, industry standards, personnel training and development, management, public policy, social sciences and technology. The Library Development Services Bureau provides state and federal financial assistance to California libraries and provides technical consulting assistance to help local libraries extend and improve services to all Californians. The foundational work for this program

2622-689: The Future of the Research Library . To create microform media, a planetary camera is mounted with the vertical axis above a copy that is stationary during exposure. High volume output is possible with a rotary camera which moves the copy smoothly through the camera to expose film which moves with the reduced image. Alternatively, it may be produced by computers, i.e. COM (computer output microfilm). Normally microfilming uses high resolution panchromatic monochrome stock. Positive color film giving good reproduction and high resolution can also be used. Roll film

2691-558: The Sri Lankan Library Association's accredited programs. With the development of the Web, digital reference services are beginning to take over some of the roles of the traditional reference desk in a library. There is disagreement over whether or not this development is desirable or inevitable. Microfiche A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for

2760-405: The aperture with adhesive tape. They are used for engineering drawings in all engineering disciplines. There are libraries of these containing over 3 million cards. Aperture cards may be stored in drawers or in freestanding rotary units. A microfiche is a sheet of flat film, 105 × 148 mm in size, the same size as the international standard for paper size ISO A6 . It carries

2829-608: The camera. Early cut sheet microforms and microfilms (to the 1930s) were printed on nitrate film , which poses high risks to their holding institutions, as nitrate film is chemically unstable and a fire hazard. From the late 1930s to the 1980s, microfilms were usually printed on a cellulose acetate base, which is prone to tears, vinegar syndrome , and redox blemishes. Vinegar syndrome is the result of chemical decay and produces "buckling and shrinking, embrittlement, and bubbling". Redox blemishes are yellow, orange or red spots 15–150 micrometres in diameter created by oxidative attacks on

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2898-499: The card. This permits automated reproduction, as well as permitting mechanical card-sorting equipment to sort and select microfilm drawings. Aperture card mounted microfilm is roughly 3% of the size and space of conventional paper or vellum engineering drawings. Some military contracts around 1980 began to specify digital storage of engineering and maintenance data because the expenses were even lower than microfilm, but these programs are now finding it difficult to purchase new readers for

2967-464: The collection include federal and state appellate court decisions, session laws, codes/statutes, federal agency decisions, and Attorney General opinions of the U.S. and the fifty jurisdictions. These primary sources are supplemented by federal digests, the Pacific Digest , federal and regional citators, legal encyclopedias, law journals and periodicals, and current practice materials. This service

3036-568: The dispatches onto paper. Additionally, the US Victory Mail , and the British "Airgraph" system it was based on, were used for delivering mail between those at home and troops serving overseas during World War II . The systems worked by photographing large amounts of censored mail reduced to thumb-nail size onto reels of microfilm, which weighed much less than the originals would have. The film reels were shipped by priority air freight to and from

3105-429: The earliest proponents of references services was Samuel Swett Green . He wrote an article titled "Personal Relations Between Librarians and Readers" which had a large impact on the future of reference services. Utor (2008) defined reference services as a direct personal assistance to readers seeking information through direct contact between the reference librarian and the user. Reference desks changed dramatically with

3174-419: The emergence of information technology . During the 2020 pandemic, there was a surge of virtual information desks. It has been found that chat, email, and web conferencing formats have become adequate substitutions for in-person conversations. AI chatbots are also being used in academic libraries to address typical information inquiries, although their use is still being tested Resources that are often kept at

3243-409: The film, and are largely due to poor storage conditions. The simplest microfilm camera that is still in use is a rail mounted structure at the top of which is a bellows camera for 105 x 148 mm film. A frame or copy board holds the original drawing vertical. The camera has a horizontal axis which passes through the center of the copy. The structure may be moved horizontally on rails. In a darkroom

3312-431: The home fronts, sent to their prescribed destinations for enlarging at receiving stations near the recipients, and printed out on lightweight photo paper. These facsimiles of the letter-sheets were reproduced about one-quarter the original size and the miniature mails were then delivered to the addressee. Use of these microfilm systems saved significant volumes of cargo capacity needed for war supplies. An additional benefit

3381-464: The late 1800s. These services initially began in public libraries. At first librarians were hesitant to offer reference services because many libraries did not have a large enough staff to provide the services without other duties being neglected. Beginning in 1883 with the Boston Public Library , libraries began to hire librarians whose primary duty was to provide reference services. One of

3450-414: The lens. Fixed lights illuminate the copy. These cameras are often over 4 metres (13 ft) high. These cameras accept roll film stock of 35 or 16 mm. For office documents a similar design may be used but bench standing. This is a smaller version of the camera described above. These are provided either with the choice of 16 or 35 mm film or accepting 16 mm film only. Non adjustable versions of

3519-706: The library catalogs, and California state information. The California State Library also funds "California Revealed", a digitization initiative that helps public libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and other community heritage groups in California preserve and provide online access to materials documenting the state’s history, art, and cultures. Since its launch in 2010, the initiative has been expanded to provide financial assistance for community outreach and education, cataloging and processing projects, as well as free access and preservation services for existing digital collections. The California State Library uses

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3588-493: The microphotograph was reattached to a glass frame and was then projected by magic lantern on the wall. The message contained in the microfilm could then be transcribed or copied. By 28 January 1871, when Paris and the Government of National Defense surrendered, Dagron had delivered 115,000 messages to Paris by carrier pigeon. The chemist Charles-Louis Barreswil proposed the application of photographic methods with prints of

3657-400: The office camera are provided. These have a rigid frame or an enveloping box that holds a camera at a fixed position over a copy board. If this is to work at more than one reduction ratio there are a choice of lenses. Some cameras expose a pattern of light, referred to as blips, to digitally identify each adjacent frame. This pattern is copied whenever the film is copied for searching. A camera

3726-775: The old formats. Microfilm first saw military use during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. During the Siege of Paris , the only way for the provisional government in Tours to communicate with Paris was by pigeon post . As the pigeons could not carry paper dispatches, the Tours government turned to microfilm. Using a microphotography unit evacuated from Paris before the siege, clerks in Tours photographed paper dispatches and compressed them to microfilm, which were carried by homing pigeons into Paris and projected by magic lantern while clerks copied

3795-547: The process "somewhat trifling and childish". Microphotography was first suggested as a document preservation method in 1851 by the astronomer James Glaisher , and in 1853 by John Herschel , another astronomer. Both men attended the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, where the exhibit on photography greatly influenced Glaisher. He called it "the most remarkable discovery of modern times", and argued in his official report for using microphotography to preserve documents. A pigeon post

3864-487: The purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or 1 ⁄ 25 of the original document size. For special purposes, greater optical reductions may be used. Three formats are common: microfilm (reels), microfiche (flat sheets), and aperture cards . Microcards, also known as "micro-opaques", a format no longer produced, were similar to microfiche, but printed on cardboard rather than photographic film. Equipment

3933-421: The quantities involved justified getting a microfiche reader just to read COM fiche. The first COM devices date back to around 1955 and were used in scientific programming as substitutes for paper-based plotters . Then during the 1960s, business applications sought to use COM. This was part of the effort to find alternatives to paper-based reports in dealing with the information explosion . By 1969, some of

4002-681: The sanction of the American Library Association at its annual meeting in 1936, when it officially endorsed microforms. In 1937 Herman H. Fussler of the University of Chicago set up an exhibition of microform at the World Congress of Universal Documentation . Harvard University Library was the first major institution to realize the potential of microfilm to preserve broadsheets printed on high-acid newsprint and it launched its "Foreign Newspaper Project" to preserve such ephemeral publications in 1938. Roll microfilm proved far more satisfactory as

4071-550: The sole regional depository for, and largest collection of, federal documents in California. It receives all publications distributed by the U.S. Superintendent of Documents to federal depository libraries, along with purchasing supplementary microfiche collections relating to federal reports, studies and documents. The Government Publications section administers the California State Depository Library Program and receives all state publications subject to

4140-401: The staff at the reference desk for help in finding information. Using a structured reference interview , the librarian works with the library user to clarify their needs and determine what information sources will fill them. To borrow a medical analogy, reference librarians diagnose and treat information deficiencies. The ultimate help provided may consist of reading material in the form of

4209-672: The state contributes funding for basic local library services under specified conditions; California Library Literacy Services, which works to enable Californians of all ages to reach their literacy goals and use library services effectively; and California Library Services Act (CLSA), a program that helps public libraries and cooperative public library systems provide coordinated information services, supports communication and delivery among libraries, and provides reimbursement for interlibrary loans of materials and direct loans to non-resident borrowers. Sutro Library , located in San Francisco , has

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4278-423: The tail feather. The developments in microphotography continued through the next decades, but it was not until the turn of the century that its potential for practical usage was applied more broadly. In 1896, Canadian engineer Reginald A. Fessenden suggested microforms were a compact solution to engineers' unwieldy but frequently consulted materials. He proposed that up to 150,000,000 words could be made to fit in

4347-459: Was also a space-saving measure. In his 1945 book, The Scholar and the Future of the Research Library , Fremont Rider calculated that research libraries were doubling in space every sixteen years. His suggested solution was microfilming, specifically with his invention, the microcard. Once items were put onto film, they could be removed from circulation and additional shelf space would be made available for rapidly expanding collections. The microcard

4416-482: Was done by Harriet G. Eddy. The primary assistance programs of the Library Development Services Bureau include: Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), a federal program which provides grants to libraries for innovative library services, technological development, services for underserved populations, library networking and resource sharing; Public Library Fund, a funding program under which

4485-411: Was in operation during the Siege of Paris (1870-1871). René Dagron photographed pages of newspapers in their entirety which he then converted into miniature photographs. He subsequently removed the collodion film from the glass base and rolled it tightly into a cylindrical shape which he then inserted into miniature tubes that were transported fastened to the tail feathers of the pigeons. Upon receipt

4554-452: Was made a part of ProQuest Information and Learning in 2001. Systems that mount microfilm images in punched cards have been widely used for archival storage of engineering information. For example, when airlines demand archival engineering drawings to support purchased equipment (in case the vendor goes out of business, for example), they normally specify punch-card-mounted microfilm with an industry-standard indexing system punched into

4623-413: Was printed to microfiche during the 1970s and distributed to customers in this form. Additionally, microfiche was used to write out long casework for some proofs such as the four color theorem . The medium has numerous characteristics: Desktop readers are boxes with a translucent screen at the front on to which is projected an image from a microform. They have suitable fittings for whatever microform

4692-606: Was superseded by microfiche. By the 1960s, microfilming had become standard policy. In 1948, the Australian Joint Copying Project started; the intention to film records and archives from the United Kingdom relating to Australia and the Pacific. Over 10,000 reels were produced, making it one of the largest projects of its kind. Around the same time, Licensed Betting Offices in the UK began using microphotography as

4761-455: Was that the small, lightweight reels of microfilm were almost always transported by air, and as such were delivered much more quickly than any surface mail service could have managed. Libraries began using microfilm in the mid-20th century as a preservation strategy for deteriorating newspaper collections. Books and newspapers that were deemed in danger of decay could be preserved on film and thus access and use could be increased. Microfilming

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