"Terra Cognita" surveys the current landscape of archival research and the experiences of emerging scholars seeking to navigate it. Drawing on data from the Council on Library and Information Resources' (CLIR's) Mellon Fellowships for Dissertation Research in Original Sources, the report takes an in-depth look at how the conditions and…

The preservation of paper-based artifacts is an essential issue for collection management in academic libraries. In recent years, the library science profession has often favored reformatting through microfilm or digitization, assuming too quickly that information matters, whereas an artifact's medium does not. However, much recent humanities…

Discusses efforts of the National Archives and Records Administration to microfilm its holdings and to encourage other federal agencies to do the same. Reliability, adaptability, and costs of microforms are explored. (Author/MES)

The implications of reprints to libraries are discussed and some of the problems that accompany their production and distribution are indicated. (8 references) (Author/NH)

Microfilming preserves the library's holdings while creating space for new acquisitions without the need for new library construction and physical expansion. In addition, microfilming protects rare originals from excessive handling, preserves material with permanent research value and makes possible economic demand" reprinting via positive…

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

Describes various microforms (any form, either film or paper, which contains microimages), indicating the advantages and disadvantages of roll film, aperture cards, microfiche, jackets, and micro-opaques. Phases and benefits of micropublishing, seven types of microfilm, safety film, processed microfilm, and storage are noted. Ten references are…

Summarizes the ANSI standards for archival film and looks at the debate surrounding questions of archival storage, durability in a working environment, and affordability among proponents of silver halide, diazo, and vesicular films. Articles written by Carl Spaulding and Albert R. Materazzi on the subject are reviewed. (11 references) (MES)

In an attempt to solve storage and preservation problems, in 1969 the United Nations made all their publications available in microfiche format. (JG)

Discusses the history of the microform collections at the Library of Congress (LC), highlighting the exchange of microfilmed newspapers between LC and the Biblioteca Nacional, Brazil. Recent developments in preservation microfilming, LC's acquisition of microforms, and the activities of the LC Preservation Microfilming Office are described. (3…

These two reports published by the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA) include a comparison of digital and microfilm imagery, as well as discussions of chemical deacidification; ASCII (nonimage) files; and storage, conversion, and transmission considerations. A structured glossary of terms relating to media conversion and digital computer…

Remarks on the relative permanence and durability of three types of film in use in library microform reproduction (silver, diazo, and vesicular) and points out some technical and economic facts that govern the choice of microform materials for libraries. A 6-item reference list is included. (Author/JL)

Selective listing of material available in microform in the field of Afro-American studies is organized into two categories: papers, records and collections; and special areas of interest. Information is also provided about preservation microfilming at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. (two…

Describes how concern about the quality of microfilm being purchased by the Library of Congress Photoduplication Service led to a project to bring together the various standards covering microfilm for permanent records, and to the publication in 1964 of Specifications for Library of Congress Microfilming. (two references) (CLB)

Discusses the Massachusetts Historical Society's various photostat and microfilming projects and describes how they grew out of the philosophy of the society's founder, the Reverend Jeremy Belknap. Topics include the preservation of the papers of presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and collaboration with other repositories. (Author/JKP)