(Chicago, 19 November 2013) “Managing Microforms in the Digital Age,” a new online publication from the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) addresses trends in bibliographic control, storage environments, current vendors and resources and microform terminology. Microforms have taken many shapes and sizes over the years and some formats, such as microopaques and microcards, are all but obsolete. Libraries have long depended on microforms as a means of preserving and providing access to research materials such as newspapers, periodicals, government publications, manuscripts, business records, diaries, scrapbooks and other published and primary-source materials.
As a result of the changes that have transpired over the past 30 years, a revision of the 1977 American Library Association (ALA) publication “Guidelines for Handling Library Orders for Microforms,” published by the Resources and Technical Services Division (RTSD), Resources Section and Bookdealer-Library Committee, was necessary. The revised publication, retitled “Managing Microforms in the Digital Age,” provides librarians and information management specialists with some basic information about managing microform collections. The publication does not attempt to be a comprehensive review of the microform industry, nor does it serve as a guide for preservation microfilm production.
The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) is a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Read the press release here.
