DM1805

Dm TECHNOLOGY FOCUS: MICROFICHE
Breathing new life into old media
Amy Wright of Storetec explains how innovative solutions are bringing microfilm
and microfiche records into the GDPR era
"GONE ARE THE DAYS OF MANUALLY FEEDING MICROFICHE JACKETS INTO
THE SCANNER IN A SLOW AND CUMBERSOME PROCESS. TODAY'S STATE-
OF-THE-ART EQUIPMENT COMES WITH HIGH SPEED AUTOMATIC FEEDERS,
CLOSED CARTRIDGE SYSTEMS AND IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES TO
AUTOMATICALLY CAPTURE HIGH QUALITY GREYSCALE AND BITONAL
IMAGES. THESE SCANNERS ELIMINATE ANY POSSIBILITY OF MICROFICHE
BEING DROPPED, DAMAGED OR STUCK TOGETHER DURING THE
AUTOMATED SCANNING PROCESS. THE HIGHLY TECHNICAL BUILD OF THE
MACHINES ALSO MEANS THAT MICROFILM AND MICROFICHE CAN BE
DIGITISED UP TO 600DPI, TO IMPROVE OVERALL IMAGE QUALITY."
The upsurge in the use of microfiche
and microfilm to store
documentation throughout the late
twentieth century was mainly due to the
perceived guarantees that images could
be preserved for 500 years. Of course,
today we know that this in many cases is
not a realistic figure. Microfilm and
microfiche must be kept in a strict climate
and temperature-controlled environment
to preserve the integrity and quality of
the media.
In the worst-case scenario, films can also
be damaged by fire and water or lost due
to incompetence, lack of knowledge or
business changes. To view the information
contained within the film or fiche users
must have access to specialist equipment.
With this in mind, many organisations
could be missing out on a wealth of
information hidden away in the archives.
Although microfilm and microfiche used
to be the solution to a lack of space in the
archives, in today's digital era, this has
almost become redundant with
document scanning solutions being faster,
safer and a more secure way to access this
information. Local authorities, libraries
and museums are the types of public
sector bodies which tend to have a lot of
archived documentation stored on
microfilm and microfiche.
With the commencement of GDPR being
enacted on the 25th May 2018, it is now
of the utmost importance that
organisations are aware of records which
hold personal information on any EU
citizen. This means that all microfilm and
microfiche needs to be interrogated and
potentially digitised in order for senior
management to clarify what the records
pertain to. Records management
professionals are of course keen to ensure
compliance with GDPR, which is why the
vast majority are seeking microfilm and
microfiche scanning services.
Recognising this increase in demand,
Storetec has expanded its services in terms
of microfiche & microfilm technical
capabilities. New equipment has been
purchased which has quadrupled the
monthly production capacity. Gone are
the days of manually feeding microfiche
jackets into the scanner in a slow and
cumbersome process.
Today's state-of-the-art equipment
comes with high speed automatic feeders,
closed cartridge systems and image
processing technologies to automatically
capture high quality greyscale and bitonal
images. These scanners eliminate any
possibility of microfiche being dropped,
damaged or stuck together during the
automated scanning process. The highly
technical build of the machines also
means that microfilm and microfiche can
be digitised up to 600dpi, to improve
overall image quality.
The benefits of digitising microfilm,
microfiche or aperture cards are
considerable when you consider
unlocking the knowledge tied up in old
media. After all, its hard to be
compliant with GDPR if you don't know
what you have.
More info: www.storetec.net
30 @DMMagAndAwards May/June 2018 www.document-manager.com