I felt like I was stepping back in time in time tonight. While doing some research for a paper, I came across something very nostalgic. Something that I can’t remember using since the internet boomed.
Do you remember Microfiche & Microfilms? You know those little black films with whole books on them. To read them, you have to use that dinosaur-looking viewing machine with the little magnified light and hazy opaque screen. No digital zoom. No flat screen quality. No 64 bit color. Black and white baby!
I felt like I was Julia Roberts in the Pelican Brief or Erin Brochavich (minus the big hair and enormous teeth) scanning through newspaper articles looking for clues to solve a mystery. In reality, I was looking at material for college governance structures. I know, I know, you are dazzled with intrigue and excitement. A Hollywood block-buster in the making.
But as I worked with those little microfiche, my mind kept thinking that I was back at Hancock County High School in the Media Center (a.k.a. the school library), being told to be quiet and not to loose those little films. “They cost a lot of money, you know.”
Now with the internet, digitial scanners, and online databases, the era of the microfiche may be coming to a close. But I appreciated using those little films tonight. Kind of like going back to the card catalog, the Dewey decimal system, and school pencil boxes. Nostalgic and sweet.