Did you know there is a machine that can convert digital files to microfilm? The State Archives of North Carolina has two such machines and they produce film of high enough quality that the images can be re-digitized at a later date. If you have permanent digital records that only have significant informational value on the surface (i.e. nothing embedded, metadata included), then using a Kodak Document Archive Writer i9620 (DAW) or a Staude SMA 51 File Converter (SMA 51) might be a cost-effective option for preserving those records.
Here is a demo from the manufacturer of the DAW. The machine takes quick, high-definition images of uncompressed TIFFs, PDFs, or PDF/As. The pages then become images on microfilm. Because the images will be filmed in a linear fashion, it is crucial that the files are named in a way that sorts them in a usable order.
If you are a North Carolina clerk for a major decision making board that produces a good deal of minutes, you may want to consider electronic transfer to the State Archives. Contact me (919.807.7357 or carolyn.chesarino@ncdcr.gov) for more information. In the meantime, check out the following:
Guidelines for electronic conversion to microfilm
File Formats for Digital Preservation
File Format Guidelines for In-House Preservation
[...] Electronic File to Microfilm (and back!) Conversion [...]
By: Stacks Shift « History For All the People on January 23, 2013
at 12:45 pm