Microfilm!

Some might wonder why do this still, in the digital era, but actually microfilm is still very important. In this case, I sent out the last 4 semesters of the Stylus to Biels to be microfilmed. I also have the newspaper bound into volumes. So I'll have paper copy, microfilm, and at some point the microfilm can be digitized, and added to NYS Historic Newspapers, where it already is held 1928-2014.


So why not just digitize, and skip the microfilm? Well, the print copy won't last forever, although I have some bound newspapers from 40, 50 years ago that aren't too bad. Digital is very accessible, but also very potentially ephemeral. A server goes out, files get corrupted somehow, software and format changes led to materials that can no longer be opened...


Microfilm on the other hand will last easily a century or two, takes up little space, and can always be utilized. In with the new, but keep some of the old one might say. Pictured here is the microfilm room in 1971 in the "old" Drake, when we were in what is now Rakov.