Teaching your class to use primary source material? Looking for the weather in Philadelphia in 1803? Researching women’s rights in the 19th century? Looking for information on surveillance by the FBI on Martin Luther King, Jr.?
University Libraries own such resources on microfilm, microfiche, and microcard as well as the workstations to scan images for the user to save to disk. Find information about each of the microform research collections owned by the Libraries at http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/infosrv/MicroCollections/index.htm
This web site includes a description of the content of each collection and a list of finding aids to help researchers use the collection. These are linked from a series of pages that provide access by name, subject, time period, or language.
The workstations consist of a computer, scanner and software that allow the user to scan pages from microforms as graphic files (PDF, JPEG, TIFF, etc) and save them on disks. They are located adjacent to Periodicals/Microforms Desk on the main floor of Jerome Library. Student employees provide basic assistance during open hours and instructions for use of the equipment are provided.
For your first visit
- Plan to use this equipment during business hours so full-time staff are available to assist you.
- Expect to spend some time learning about the scanner, the Adobe Acrobat software, and the computer.
Bring a PC-compatible Zip disk (100 or 250 mb) with you if you intend to save many images. You may use a 3.5” disk if you need only a few images.
Researchers using interlibrary loan material and students wanting to avoid paying for printing microform images are the most frequent users of this equipment. Students in history and journalism classes scan material from the microform collections to take to their desktops and use in the comfort of their own home at 3:00a.m. Occasionally, the equipment has been busy enough that users have had to wait their turn to use the equipment!
Jeanne Langendorfer, Serials Coordintor
Carol Singer, Reference Librarian
