Microfilm/Microfiche Assignment

Obtain a microfilm or microfiche article in applied or engineering physics
and make a hard copy to hand in next week. One need only copy the first page
of the article unless you want to use the article in your paper. Once you 
obtain the file for the article, you may place the file on a storage medium 
and then print it in the Department.

The reason for using microfiche is that one can obtain 98 pages on one sheet 
of plastic. This reduces the size of the journal to approximately 0.25% 
Microfilm and aperture cards are other media in the same class of microforms.
You can read more about these on Wikipedia. 

There are microfilm and microfiche articles on the bottom floor of the 
library where the journals are shelved (two different areas) and in the 
Government Documents Section. There is probably a selection of over 
100,000 microfiche and microfilm articles. There are some ancient journals 
going back to the 17th century.

To obtain a working system that will store and print a microfilm files, make 
sure that the microfilm/microfiche reader is turned on before you turn on 
the computer, so it will be recognized by the computer as it boots. 

Once you have selected an article, set the contrast and set the proper type 
of image to be sent to the computer. Select the page in the portrait 
orientation as that is the orientation of the paper in the printer. If the 
microfilm is black with white letters, set to reverse image. You may set the 
reader to auto to automatically perform these tasks. Your article should have 
black text with a transparent background. 

Select either to send the scan to a printer or to a file. Then one should see a
window containing a document outline with a portrait orientation. Press Scan to
begin, then one will hear the reader "clunk" which will be followed by another 
"clunk" when it is finished. At this point click DONE in the window. The file 
will then be sent to either the printer or will be placed in the MY DOCUMENTS 
folder. If you have chosen a "fine' or "photo" type of file(on the Microfilm 
Reader) the process will take much longer. If you wish to download the file to 
a jump drive, use Windows Explorer to send it to the removable Drive. Use the 
second removable drive as there is a ZIP drive installed.

This Microfilm/Microfiche system is slated to be replaced by next year. It will
be a much user-friendly system. 

Hand in the hard copy of the article next week.

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