I have a number of suggestions but I am only going to write the three I find most pressing here.
First and foremost: why are we still stuck in the 20th century? It
seems rather absurd that a person actually has to print out microfilms
and can't simply send them to themselves via email. Moreover, that the
microfilms are in no way searchable via electronic means is rather
arcane. If we are going to do away with the old papers entirely,
perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to just digitize them all so that one
doesn't have to spend hours looking through two decades of Hyde Park
Herald microfilm to find articles about urban renewal or crime, for
example. So, would it be possible to not only digitize them but make it
so that I don't have to waste trees by printing out the microfilms?
Second, why don't the copy machines allow me to simply scan and
email? In the dorms, the copy machines allow scanning and emailing so
that I can save paper (and money). This would be a great boon if the
Reg were to start doing it and I think many people would appreciate and
use it. Please allow this feature.
Third, and this is perhaps the most outlandish but potentially the
most beneficial: the University should REALLY invest in digitizing its
Special Collections (or at least making it so that it is open at more
convenient hours for students). The fact that one literally has to
request each and every individual box to explore what contents are in
it without really knowing what one may find is quite absurd. Perhaps I
am just so accustomed to being able to simply doing a Google search,
but that I don't even know what may or may not be contained in an
archive is somewhat troubling. Imagine how much information is
potentially overlooked simply because one doesn't have the time to look
through 150 linear feet of boxes. If these items were even partially
digitized, it would allow for better preservation (as far fewer people
would need to handle the items) and much easier access. Indeed, more
than one person could use the same item and the same time.
[The Office staff takes a deep breath--] Here goes:
3) Digitizing Special Collections materials: We are doing this for specific collections -- for example, see the Archival Photographic Files and the Goodspeed Manuscript Collection.
In recent years we have focused on indexing and organizing our archival materials, and placing the indexes ("finding aids") online. Perhaps this could be seen as the first step towards systematically digitizing everything in the Special Collections Research Center. However, that would be a big project, and take big amounts of money.
2) Scanning: There's an outside vendor (Copico) with whom we contract for photocopying and printing. Their contract expires next May, and the University is negotiating a new contract that will cover both the dorms and the Library. Multi-function devices are explicitly mentioned, so perhaps by next school year the machines will make an appearance.
At present, there is already one microfilm reader/printer on the third floor of the Reg that allows scanning and saving to a USB drive.
1) Searching microfilms: It can definitely be tedious to scroll through hours of microfilm. However, most of the newspapers were filmed before the Web was widespread (microfilm was the "new" technology at the time). We do buy digitized full-text newspaper archives as they become available -- see our listings for the Chicago Tribune, for example. However, unlike archival materials, it's not something we can just do on our own dime due to copyright.
