MICROFICHE

A microfiche is a card made of transparent film used to store printed information in miniaturized form. To read the card, a user places it under the lens of a reader machine, which magnifies it greatly. The thinness and small size of the film enables it to be stored very easily and efficiently, allowing libraries, museums and businesses to increase their resource collections without the need for additional storage space. While many organizations store records digitally, microfiche records are still created and used and, in fact, have some advantages over digital storage options, including their potentially longer lifespan.

Types of Microforms
Microfiche is a type of microform, a term used to describe several mediums that provide storage for exact, miniature copies of documents. This type is made of a flat sheet of film, usually with a polyester base, on which multiple pages of a document are printed in extremely small size. The standard size is 105 mm by 148 mm (about 4 by 5.8 inches). Other types of microforms include microfilm, a strip of film on which the miniaturized copies are printed, and aperture cards, which are punch cards with a window that holds a single micofilm image.

How They Are Read
Microforms usually cannot be read with the naked eye and must be magnified first. Specialized machines have been designed to make this task eaiser; the most common include a magnifier and a simple projector that allows the user to read the much larger image of the document on a screen. Microfiche machines are usually expensive and are found primarily in large institutions that store a lot of documents. Optical scanners can also be used to convert the film to a digital image that can be read on a computer.

Advantages
Even a small storage cabinet can hold thousands of microfiche cards which, in turn, can contain tens of thousands of pages of material. In addition, the machines used to read them — although often expensive — are not very complicated and don't require specialized software or updates. Other storage media, like CD-ROMs, can only be read with computers or other sophisticated hardware. Some storage methods used in the past were based on technology that's no longer in common use, which makes accessing the data difficult.
The polyester material on which the images are printed is also very stable and, if kept in a temperature controlled environment, is estimated to last as long as 500 years. CD-ROMs are estimated to last for about 75 - 100 years, depending on the materials they are made of and how they are stored. Although both storage mediums can be damaged if not handled correctly, CDs are typically more delicate than microfiche. If a card becomes damaged, the organization that owns the document can have a new one created relatively cheaply from the original or a master negative.
Any organization that owns valuable or important documents can also take advantage of this data storage method as a way of providing researchers with access to important records with little risk of loss or damage to the original. Since it is more difficult to read without a special machine and has no aesthetic value of its own, this format is often of little interest to thieves.

Disadvantages
Special equipment is usually needed to both read and duplicate microfiche cards, so they are not practical for every situation. The readers, which are the best and easiest way to retrieve the information, are bulky and are far less common than personal computers. Making a paper copy of a document stored this way also requires using a special printer integrated into the machine.
Color ink is rarely used in microform because it tends to fade or degrade when exposed to the bright light of the reader. The contrast on black and white images is very good, but half-tones and grays cannot be produced as clearly. This means that photographs and other pictures often do not look as good when stored in this format.
Microform documents are also more difficult to share than digital files; if a document is only available on microfiche, a researcher may have to travel to the physical location where that record is stored to view it. Data stored digitally, on the other hand, can be sent via email or a document sharing system and then read on a personal computer. The machines used to read microforms can also be difficult to use, sometimes requiring the user to scroll through the many document pages on one card in order to find needed information. Digital data, on the other hand, is often easily and quickly searched through the use of specialized software.

MICROFILM JACKET

A Microfilm jacket is made up of 2 pieces of polyester film bonded together to hold strips of film. Jackets are made in various sizes and hold 16mm or 35mm microfilm or a combination of both.

The main advantage of a jacket is that it is a unitised record. A jacket is similar to a paper file in that it can still be held in the hand and it is still recognisable as the original hard copy file. Like a file it can be added to or edited at any time. A microfilm jacket system is ideal for updateable document management files such as personnel, insurance, student or customer files etc.

Also, like any filing system the jackets can be indexed by colour, notch or bar code etc. to enhance retrieval and security.

A jacket system has all the advantages of a conventional paper file plus all the benefits that microfilm can add.
Laminate
Microfilm jackets are manufactured using a lamination system. Lamination is basically a gluing process that bonds the two halves of the jacket together using lengths of special polyester hot melt glue. The hot melt is either used in its clear state to produce clear laminate jackets or dyed blue to produce blue laminate jackets. Choice of colour of laminate is down to personal preference, it does not effect the performance of the jacket. | |
Jacket Formats Available
Both the blue and clear laminate jackets are held in the metric size (105 x 148mm - A6) and imperial size (103 x 152mm - 6" x 4") in all formats. Shown below is our main range of jackets, however, we also supply 5 x 3", aperture card size, 8 x 5", 86 x 127mm, 76 x 127mm, 86 x 187mm, 128 x 101mm and 152 x 103mm jacket formats.

Jackets can be made to just about any size or format to suit your specific need.
Please talk to us if you have an unusual requirement.

Metric | | | | | | | |

Imperial | | | | | | | | Printed Heading Strips
All the above jacket formats come with a translucent heading strip onto which the user can type/print indexing information relating to the microfilm contents of the jacket. The Microfilm Shop can pre-print jacket heading strips on request.

The heading strip is translucent so that when duplicate copies of the jacket are made, the information on the heading strip will appear on the duplicate copy.

Colour Striping
A 2mm wide colour stripe can be added to the top of the heading strip to distinguish different subjects or groups etc. at a glance.

Stock Colours Available

Note:
The colours shown above are meant as a guide only and are not considered to be a detailed representation of the exact colours available.

Notch Coding
Notch codes are used to further sub-index within jacket systems. It involves cutting notches at different points along the top of the jacket. Groups of jackets would have the notch in the same position enabling the user to easily identify a misfiled jacket belonging to a different group. The Microfilm Shop can notch jackets for you or supply a jacket notching machine.

Jacket/Fiche Protection and Duplicating Sleeves
These sleeves are made so that A6 microfilm jackets or microfiche can fit into them. Heavy duty protection sleeves act purely to protect the jackets from excessive handling. Duplicating sleeves comprise one thick piece of plastic and one thin to allow for the duplicating of jackets whilst in the protection sleeve.

Continuous Stationery
All of our microfilm jackets can be supplied pre-mounted onto computer stationery in such a way that the index can be typed/printed straight on to the jackets using your computer or word processor. All types of computer stationery can be supplied.

Sequential Numbering
When converting a purely sequential, numeric reference system (such as the storage of invoices) onto jackets, it is possible to have the numbers pre-printed onto the jackets at the time of ordering. There is no limit to the amount of digits that can be printed onto the top of the jacket. Set analogue prefixes or suffixes can also be printed at the same time.

Jacket Labels
A further efficient way to index jackets is by the use of specialised title labels. The type used for microfilm jackets has two half moon cut outs on the bottom of the label so that the location holes are not covered over. This type is available either translucent (JLT) for occasions when fiche duplicates are going to be prepared, or made of opaque (JLO) paper for when duplicates are not required or the previous heading needs to be covered. Both types are supplied on computer stationery. Ref. JLT and JLO - 127 x 7mm |

Jacket Loader
There is a complete range of equipment available to mount microfilm into all formats of microfilm jackets. These include simple hand tweezers, basic machines that are totally manual, semi-automatic models and completely automated models. All are available from The Microfilm Shop. Click here to take a look at the ABR400.
Canon Jackets
The Microfilm Shop can supply a full range of Canon type jackets. These are very similar to normal jackets but are specifically designed to be loaded using a Canon jacket loader. The main difference being that the film insertion slot is 'moon' shaped rather than rectangular, as is normal.

CAR (Computer Aided Retrieval) Jackets

These jackets are designed specifically for jacket systems that use Computer Aided Retrieval for all their documents. Each frame of microfilm is given a unique reference number using a grid pattern (i.e. A3 or D12) to locate its exact position in the jacket. This is achieved by pre-printing a grid pattern on the glue lengths of the jacket. The computer contains the jacket identification number, batch, date or subject as well as key document description and location. Upon request, the terminal operator receives the jacket identification and document x and y location from the computer database.

APERTURE CARD

Aperture cards have developed from the old IBM80 column punch cards. They are basically a piece of card that is normally 82.5mm x 187mm in size with an area of the card dedicated to one frame of 35mm microfilm.

Traditionally aperture cards have been used to store the microfilm copy of large engineering drawings and maps. Each aperture card would hold its very own map or drawing. The actual card itself is used for typing the index reference and for ease of handling to avoid touching the microfilm frame.

Aperture cards are available (like all microfilm formats) in a variety of different types:-

1) Conventional Aperture Cards As mentioned above, these are 82.5mm x 187mm pieces of card. From this card a square hole or aperture (hence the name) is cut, this hole is approx. 50mm x 40mm (2 x 11/2"). The edges of this hole are lined with an adhesive tape thus allowing one frame of 35mm microfilm to be positioned securely over the hole. This allows the light to shine through the microfilm image enabling it to beread.

The Microfilm Shop is a main dealer for the complete range of
3M aperture cards thus ensuring a guaranteed supply of very high quality aperture cards.

There are 2 basic formats of aperture card:-

i) M1 Aperture Cards

For ease of identification, if you look at the aperture card with the cut corner in the top left, then an M1 card will have the adhesive tape on the rear of the card and the hole (or aperture) will be to the left of the card. When a frame of 35mm microfilm is positioned on to the adhesive tape, the emulsion side of the film will be at the front of the card. (Dimensions for this card are 187mm x 82.5mm) ii) M4 Aperture Cards

For ease of identification, if you look at the aperture card with the cut corner in the top left, then an M4 card will have the adhesive tape on the front of the card and the hole (or aperture) will be to the right of the card. When a frame of 35mm microfilm is positioned on to the adhesive tape, the emulsion side of the film will be at the rear of the card.


2) Duplicards
These are exactly the same size as conventional aperture cards ie. 82.5mm x 187mm. Instead of having a frame of original silver microfilm placed onto the card, these cards have a piece of diazo emulsion microfilm already pre-mounted onto the adhesive tape. This piece of diazo film has not been exposed, the idea being to place the duplicard exactly underneath the original aperture card and then expose both to ultra-violet light. After developing the duplicard with ammonia, you have created an exact copy of the original aperture card for security or distribution purposes.
As with conventional aperture cards, The Microfilm Shop is a main dealer for the complete range of 3M duplicards thus ensuring a guaranteed supply of very high quality duplicards.
There are 2 basic formats of duplicard:-

iii) M2 Duplicard

For ease of identification, if you look at the duplicard with the cut corner in the top left, then an M2 duplicard will have the adhesive tape on the front of the card and the frame of diazo will be to the left of the card. The emulsion side of the diazo will face the rear of the card. (Dimensions are 187mm x 82.5mm.

iv) M3 Duplicard

For ease of identification, if you look at the duplicard with the cut corner in the top left, then an M3 duplicard will have the adhesive tape on the rear of the card and the frame of diazo will be to the right of the card. The emulsion side of the diazo will face the front of the card.

Coloured Cards
The standard colour for conventional aperture cards is buff (beige) and for duplicards is salmon. However, other card colours are available for easy indexing, these include:- salmon, buff, white, pink, green, yellow and blue. | | | | | | | Buff | Salmon | White | Pink | Green | Yellow | Blue |
Packing
Aperture cards and duplicards are priced per 1,000 cards, however all cards are packed in boxes of 2,000 therefore you must order a minimum of 2,000 cards and in multiples of 2,000.

Pre-printing
In addition to having different coloured cards to suit your indexing system, it is possible to have the cards pre-printed with any information you require. This could be a company logo, an indexing grid or sequential numbering etc. Please contact our sales department to ensure that the correct printing proofs are created. Normally, after a one-off set-up charge, there is no extra cost for pre-printing your information on to the cards.

3) Polyester Pocket Aperture Cards
These are very similar to conventional aperture cards in that they are exactly the same size. Instead of using adhesive tape to secure the frame of microfilm to the card, a polyester pocket sits in the hole (or aperture) of the card. The frame of microfilm is then placed inside the pocket.
By far the most popular type of polyester pocket aperture card is the 'MIL-D' card.

The 'MIL-D' card holds one frame of 35mm microfilm. This card is traditionally buff in colour but is available in salmon, white, red, green, yellow and blue by special order. These cards are also available in translucent card to enable both the microfilm and the written information to be copied at the same time.

Polyester pocket cards are available in a wide variety of formats to store varying quantities and combinations of not only 35mm but also 16mm frames and strips of microfilm. Below are only a few examples of the entire range, please contact us for further details. | | | | D-1635
1X35mm + 6 or 8X16mm | D-618
3X35mm | DBL-D
2X35mm | TJ-300
24X16mm |
Polyester pocket cards are also available in A6 (105mm x 148mm ). Some examples below. | MIL-D1051X35mm | | M-451848X16mm | | M-35162X35mm + 12X16mm |
Note: Apart from the 'MIL-D' card, all other polyester pocket cards are only available in buff or translucent card.