In a scant three years at ProQuest, Marty Kahn, CEO, has moved a company coming out of a financial morass back onto solid ground. He came on board after the purchase of ProQuest Information and Learning by the (mostly) privately owned Cambridge Information Group in late 2006 and the merger of ProQuest and CSA to form ProQuest CSA. (It's now just…

When flood came to Cedar Rapids city, the Cedar Rapids Public Library (CRPL), IA, lost 160,000 items including large parts of its adult and youth collections, magazines, newspapers, reference materials, CDs, and DVDs. Most of its public access computers were destroyed as was its computer lab and microfilm equipment. The automatic circulation and…

Traces the development of microforms in terms of library and user needs. Nine functions of microforms, which are widely used because each serves a particular need, are indicated. (KP)

Deals with certain of the more persistent and alluring artifices in the micrographic field over the past two decades. (Author)

Sprucing up the microform reading area, with attention given to the human and environmental aspects discussed here, will contribute to changing users' attitudes from negative to positive regarding this format. (Author)

Microfilming is the sensible way to preserve books valuable only for their information. A bibliography on microforms and microform equipment is included. (PF)

The need for bibliographic control of microforms is generally recognized, and the technology for establishing such control exists. Efforts so far towards achieving this end have been uncoordinated, poorly supported, and generally unsuccessful. (Author/VT)

The search for a universal microform was abandoned years ago. The search for universal compatibility between microforms and their associated hardware must be abandoned. (4 references) (Author)

Outlines innovations in library tools made possible by use of computer output microfilm. (PF)

Illustrates the best form for library catalogs through a retrospective examination of the nineteenth century Rudolph Continuous Indexer. (RAA)

The first part of this article describes a number of building blocks which, in judicious combination, can be used to create a broad preservation program for a library or archive collection. The second section outlines a strategy for evaluating library preservation needs and devising a program suited to them. (Author/PF)

One critical role of the catalog is to help librarians manage and track their inventory, whether it's books, videos, journals, microfilm reels, laptops, or even access to study rooms. The phrase, "if you can't track it, you don't own it," is quite real for the library that is trying to monitor thousands or millions of items. In the last decade,…

Explores the meanings that have been attached to the term "archival" and concludes that librarians participating in the national preservation effort use this term to mean permanent. Permanence is practically defined as storage for upwards of 100 years. Given this definition, the merits of microforms and optical disks as archival storage materials…

Three major difficulties in establishing effective cooperative conservation programs are: (1) the problem of allocation of responsibilities for preserving individual items; (2) the lack of people adequately trained in physical preservation; and (3) the need for a national initiative in preservation. (PF)

Compares two approaches to document delivery and storage--microform and CD-ROM--in terms of storage capacity, accessibility, production, and cost considerations. Strengths and weaknesses of each medium are noted. It is concluded that libraries should select, integrate, and explore the different features of both technologies. (12 references) (MES)