• Microfilm is less risky than digital mediums and more compact than bound books.library books image by Daughterson from Fotolia.com
  
  In this digital age, analog media such as microfilm may seem obsolete. In fact, microfilm still has several advantages over digital formats. While books and periodicals quickly take up space and new technologies are always changing and sometimes risky, microfilm has been around for hundreds of years, with original reels still found and readable in libraries and archives worldwide.
  
  

Advantages Over Paper Documents

• Microfilm is compact, which makes it easier and less costly to store than bound periodicals; on average, the medium takes only of 10 percent of the size and three percent of the weight of the paper version. They also tend to cost less than paper subscriptions, due to lower reproduction costs. In air-conditioned storage, microfilm, made from gelatin and polyester, has a shelf life of up to 500 years, while a book or magazine would become brittle and difficult or impossible to read.
  
  

Advantages Over Digital Documents

• While digital images and documents often require advanced searching skills or special software to view, microfilm is readable with a magnifying glass. While digital media is easy to distribute, it can quickly become obsolete due to changing technology, and newer machines may not be able to read older files and formats. Since microfilm doesn't require computer equipment, it can always be read, with no need for software or hardware upgrades.
  
  

Other Advantages

• The Federal Government of the United States recognizes microfilm in all 50 states as the only medium that legally retains a copy of the original. While books and magazines can be easily torn or cut up, and digital images are sometimes transcribed to preserve text while omitting the advertising, illustrations and formatting of the original document, microfilm provides a long-lasting copy of a newspaper or periodical as it originally appeared. This has many benefits; for example, if a library patron is interested in researching classic advertisements or font styles, he would have the most success with microfilm.