Microfiche versus Internet

John Zube

You say: 'I fear that microfiche will never be more than a way of saving works that might otherwise disappear, rather than a way of gaining them a wide readership. It is an obsolete technology.'

The image of outdatedness exists for micro-graphics. It is not in fashion with the 'in' people. But by proper benchmark tests the filming (scanning), duplication and distribution of microfiched texts is still faster and more accurate than the electronic option and they can be scanned into easier than the varied sized paper documents can be. They can also be printed out from computers onto COM-fiche very much faster than they can be printed out on paper with the fastest laser printer.

I suspect that, precisely because of that, such comparisons of computer technology with micrographics are usually avoided. For this the micrographic industry is largely to blame. It found it easiest to go for the fast and easy buck by filming business and government records and this is still its bread and butter, in the face of apathy towards the microfilm reading options among most readers of books and magazines and the incompleteness with which microfilm publishers have tackled the total backlog of literature.

I have often pointed out that with the 'obsolete' technology of microfiche self-publishing, a small number of anarchist and libertarian activists could finally achieve complete anarchist and libertarian publishing and keep all this material permanently and cheaply in print, at least in this medium, within a short time span of a few years. Is that not a desirable aim? Is that option 'obsolete'?

You say: 'as a recent convert to Internet, I see that there are hundreds of books listed in one of the main catalogues, and interest groups for every subject under the sun ... ' - Hundreds of books out of hundreds of millions of books that were printed so far and unknown millions of titles that only exist in manuscripts somewhere! Let me know when Internet books are more numerous than the largest libraries so far, reportedly offering 20 to 30 million book titles.

In our time radio, TV, audio and video cassettes gained eminent positions. How much enlightenment have they spread so far? Why expect much more from the Internet?

John Zube, Libertarian Microfiche Publishing, 7 Oxley St, Berrima, NSW, Australia 2577 (tel 048 771 436). The full 14 page letter is available from Zube on microfiche. Send a £5 cash note for catalogue and sample microfiche book (indicate your area of interest). Cheap secondhand microfiche equipment, and bureaux who will microfiche material for you, can be found in the Yellow Pages under 'microfilm'.