I don't suppose that Cumbria is the only Archive Service which is
acquiring/which has acquired a microfilm reader-printer with an associated
computer, equipped with film-scanning software. Using this equipment, one
can easily digitise individual frames or sets of microfilm, e.g. for
Emailing or for placing on a website. There is also the further option of
cropping out old newspaper photographs for possible extra enhancement,
using photo editing software.
To clarify the issues in my mind, I would be interested to receive comments
on practice elsewhere, regarding any or regarding all of the following:
* Is the computer scanner intended for staff use only, or are the public
also permitted to use it? If the staff have to carry out image-scanning on
behalf of the public, is there a charge? How much?
* If the public are permitted to do their own scanning from microfilm, is
there a charge? How much?
* Presumably it will occur to some researchers that they might now plug a
flash drive (otherwise known as a pen drive or memory stick) into the
computer, which would then download any scanned images. This could probably
obviate the purchase of conventional print-outs from the reader-printer,
since such images could subsequently be edited and printed out at home.
(Barrow Library, next door to the record office, actually sells such memory
sticks to their Internet users for about £10 - which I presume would easily
be capable of storing quite a large number of images.)
So do other Archive Services permit this? And do they also make a charge
for allowing the downloading of images? Leaving aside possible copyright
issues, it could otherwise lose quite a bit of income from the
reader-printers - which are already not exactly cheap to maintain.
* Are there significant risks of spreading viruses through the re-use of pen
drives?
I would be pleased to read any replies, either on-list or off-list. (If
there is any significant interest in the topic, I could possibly provide a
summary at a later date.)
Aidan Jones,
Cumbria Record Office & Local Studies Library, Barrow.
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