The point here is that for a nominal $1,000 microfilm reader vs. a $1,000
computer, 100% of the reader's maintenance relates to reading microfilm.
Probably less than 10% of the computer's use and maintenance relates to
reading images, with the rest being used for indexing, reading email,
posting to the list, etc. 

I make the comparison as others have previously on this topic: cost of
creation and cost of retrieval. For the cost of a working piece of
microfilm, i.e. one that gets used and therefore has a MUCH shorter lifespan
than 500 LE, I could create a digital image AND index it (with as much index
info as the microfilm has or more) AND burn it to CD AND migrate it a couple
of times to give it comparable lifespan to the working microfilm. Been a
while since I've created film, but I recall it taking 30-45 sec/image to do
properly. 

Now, factor in the cost of retrieval for digital images vs. microform,
whether looking for 1 image or 1,000 images, and I think the overall cost
for digital (CD-ROM here) is substantially lower than microfilm, even taking
migration into account. Peter is correct to take into account some other
costs, but those costs are not specific to the imaging process; rather, they
are a tiny percentage at the margin for the imaging process and are to some
extent (defragging?) sunk costs that must happen regardless. And some of
those costs translate to the microfilm side as well: where is the index
stored for the film? If it's on a computer....

My tuppence between our 5th and 6th snow events of the last 6 weeks, 

Jesse Wilkins
CDIA+, LIT, ICP, edp, ermm, ecms
IMERGE Consulting
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(303) 574-1455 office
(303) 484-4142 fax
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Visit http://www.imergeconsult.com/schedule2.html for a current schedule of
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Peter Kurilecz
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 6:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] Per Page Cost Of Microfilm vs. CD-ROM

On 1/23/07, John Lovejoy <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
> Equipment costs.  If you have a microfilm reader, you will need to
> maintain it. The cost of doing so over time will be much greater than
> the proportional costs of maintaining a working computer (ie, you will
> be using the computer for other tasks when you are not accessing the
> documents)

I'll have to disagree with the above. I don't believe that a microfilm
reader's maintenance costs are that high, unless it is a reader
printer. then yes that could be a possibility. Maintenance involves
cleaning the platens occasionally and replacing burned out bulbs.

as for computer maintenance let us not forget the downtime involved
with doing backups as well as defragging the harddrives
-- 
Peter Kurilecz CRM CA
Richmond, Va

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