Time to convert microfilm to digital images?
It's that time of year again here at DISC when we pull up our inventory of thousands of rolls of microfilm and contact our customers who store film with us for archival purposes.
While these customers were at the forefront years ago in attempting to become paperless offices by filming paper documents as a means of creating a document management program, most have advanced on to scanning their documents. This leads to all kinds of possibilities for their records management system such as data capture, document classification, electronic workflow, etc...
But what about all that microfilm still being archived?
There are basically two options:
-Continue to store it.
-Conversion of the film to electronic images.
Microfilm conversion is the digital scanning of the film to be converted into electronic documents compatible with modern techology.
Conversion of the film seems to be the preferred choice these days, especially if the film contains documents that need to be archived and retrieved for long periods of time like human resource documents, students records or medical charts to name a few.
Some of the reasons to go digital with your microfilm library archives are:
- Conversion costs are at an all time low
- Technology advancements have improved conversion quality
- Microfilm deteriorates over time if not stored optimally. Don't risk losing valuable records forever.
- Improve operational efficiencies by saving time accessing, loading and viewing essential documents.
- The cost of maintaining, repairing or replacing old microfilm equipment is often equal to or greater than the cost of digital conversion
- Conversion saves the physical space needed to store the microfilm
Would you like to learn more about film conversion? If so, click here to have us provide you a sample scan of your microfilm.