Description

Melissa Coy and Jim Kichas from the Utah State Archives will be sharing their 2024 CoSA Annual Meeting presentation, "Retiring Microfilm with Dignity."

Microfilm technology is quickly becoming obsolete. It is increasingly difficult to source processor parts for legacy
machines, and it’s nearly impossible to find technicians who can service the equipment. Recent shortages in raw film exposed the risks of relying on this medium as a preservation solution. We live and work in a digital environment, but digital-to-microfilm conversion services cannot keep pace with the vast amount of digital content created by government entities, nor does it accurately preserve the authenticity and integrity of the original digital files. Often discussions around long-term preservation pit microfilm against digital preservation technologies. This presentation aims to reframe the conversation. Instead of asking which of these technologies is best, we should recognize that they are wholly different, and make plans to retire microfilm services in order to make the necessary pivot to preserve and provide access to born-digital records in their proper environment. We are open to this being a topic for a panel or roundtable discussion as well.

We want to hear from other State Archives about how they have adapted to current conditions and demands.