Using Digital Imaging To Scan Microfiche Can Help You Save Hundreds Or Even Thousands On Time, Space And Storage

By Chris Ferrer

 

You may not see using digital imaging to scan microfiche as a very lucrative or even necessary endeavor, however, many different types of businesses switch over there old files from microfilm and old paper documents and have them put on a disk. This provides easy, duplicate and safe storage. Individuals can do this as well. This keeps valuable information safe from any weather damage or disasters.

 

For decades paper documents, records, pictures, reports etcetera, were stored in boxes and file cabinets in basements, backrooms and warehouses. Microfiche was an improvement upon that yet, the film still had to be filed and stored. Any organizational system that relies purely on human discretion, is going to have imperfections. The greater the indiscretion the great the imperfections in the filing and storage system.

 

The greater the filing system the greater need for space to contain the files. Many businesses, institutions, government agencies and universities, to name a few, need to keep records and a documented history of their establishment, for many years and sometimes indefinitely. Occasionally, a warehouse was needed to store most of the information. Eventually, new methods of gathering and storing data were developed. These improvements included photography of documents and items, as well as, innovations in paper quality that helped to lengthened the life of a document and prevent deterioration.

 

Then the microfiche system was invented. It required a special camera and large table top viewer to see the images. The camera created small pieces of film with the documents on it. These bits of film needed much less space to store and file. On a single 4x6 inch microfiche card, many dozens of recorded snapshots could be stored. This card could be placed in the viewer that was also a printer. You could look at the card information immediately or have it printed up.

 

Of course, a major advantage of a microfiche system is its' space saving capacity. For example, a 2 foot box of records could be fit on to several 4x6 microfiche film cards. These could be stored in boxes in warehouse and take up a fraction of the space. Although, the end result was much less storage space and a safer way to store files, the biggest draw back was the process of getting the files to that point. It was monotonous and time consuming work which was relegated to the lowest of unskilled workers in the company. The circumstances were such, that little care was taken during the conversion from paper to microfiche film, therefore, much data was lost or made incomplete.

 

Perhaps strangely, many companies and government agencies today, are facing the task of transferring records from the microfiche film to digital imagery. This is a very specialized field and there are not a lot of businesses offering the service of data transfer from this media relic. Most of the time the company will need to outsource this job as their internal personnel are not skilled enough to maintain quality levels or they are needed to perform work in other areas of the company.

 

A microfiche scanner is a very specific piece of equipment and very expensive as well. Most companies are not going to invest in this item to transfer their microfiche records to digitally stored imagery. A rare exception to this would be a very large government agency who had a huge amount of microfiche inventory to transfer, that was also required a huge amount of labor to do the transferring. A consideration for an agency like this, could be security concerns for. Sometimes sensitive information, from many years ago, if surfaced, could become damaging. With many microfiche to digital transfer businesses though, they can be contracted to do the work either off-site or on-site. The fact remains, that companies can not, in this age of digital technology, leave there old records stored in an antiquated system.

 

Computers have made so many things easier especially, lists and inventory, that are now extremely easy to store and access through a computer program. Through the same microfiche microfilm conversion scanning technique, paper documents can be scanned as well. This makes a stronger case for the hiring of an outsourced date image transfer company. Once the data is transferred it is easily and more compactly stored as it is now contained on CD or DVD disks. In fact, even notes and diagrams jotted down on a notepad can be captured and put on disk.

 

Scanning microfiche microfilm for the purpose of transferring information to digital imagery is the latest in file storage technology. This is also a new and modern environmentally safe way to store documents. No paper is needed. Thousands of trees are now saved from the destitute prison of warehouse file storage. Thousands of gallons of water are saved in the production of wood pulp to paper. Consider date image scanning for long term safe and economical document storage.

 

Florida Microfilm Scanning Service Call 786-985-2047 sales@mdepot.com