What Are Microfilm Reels?
- In the 1800s, two individuals helped progress microfilm technology. While John Benjamin Dancer is viewed as the originator of microphotography, Rene Dragon was the first to patent the technology and use it commercially. By the late 1920s, Kodak purchased the rights to a microfilm machine created and patented by George McCarthy. Since Kodak's acquirement of and improvement on microfilm technology, it continued to grow steadily over the decades. As of 2011, many of the most important documents in history can be found on a microfilm reel somewhere.
- Microfilm has gone through many phases. It started as a novelty technology, wherein Dancer would photograph documents or books to be read under a microscope for amusement. But once Dragon patented microfilm, it took on not only a commercial role, especially in banking, but an imperative function in the use of war communication and was used successfully in multiple wars. It was not until the mid-20th century that its popularity as an archiving source soared.
- A synonymous term that encompasses both expressions of microfilm and microfiche is microform. While they may share the same term, there is a difference between the two media storage techniques. A microfilm reel, while still condense in format with a plethora of details, does not contain as much information as microfiche sheet. This is because of space constraints from the reel, which can only be so wide and bulky.
- While microfilm reels are still in use at many public, private and national libraries, and archives, there is a movement to digitize them. Transferring microfilm reels onto computers is a long, daunting task that requires the use of special scanners. Despite this drawback, the benefits of digitizing are easier storage and sharing of microfilm content.
