Hello pat79,
Thank you for your interesting question. Here are some options for
storing microfilm at off-site preservation facilities. I have
contacted these facilities for price quotes, but in many cases they
needed more information about your company than I could give. In a
few cases, they have online quote forms that I have included that you
can fill out to receive a price request. I am also waiting for a few
of the companies to get back to me today and tomorrow, in which case I
will post what they tell me in a clarification.
In summary, though, what I have found is that it doesn't matter how
much it costs to store in these facilities-- for a small amount of
data like you have, it will be significantly less expensive to store
with one of the off-site storage facilities than it would be to
attempt to build your own solution.
Here is a quick primer for about how much it might cost to rent a
shelf in one of these facilities:
"A Cost Comparison and Analysis of Storage Options for Media Collections"
http://mic.imtc.gatech.edu/preservationists_portal/presv_costcompare.htm
The records storage in the East would be Iron Mountain; the Midwest
would be Underground Vault. Underground Vault seems to have more
competitive prices than Iron Mountain. Compared to the amount of
reels (almost 60,000!) that those quotes are for, your 600-700 reels
would probably only cost a few thousand dollars in beginning storage
costs. Of course, fees would add to that cost as well. In other
words, the costs would be minimal compared to starting your own
facility.
-----------------
Northeast Document Conservation Center
http://www.nedcc.org/welcome/micro.htm
"Off-site storage of master negatives at Iron Mountain-NUS
www.ironmountain.com/IRONMTN.HTM
ANSI/NAPMIT9.Tl describes appropriate storage conditions for
preservation microfilm. If an institution does not have an appropriate
storage facility, we recommend that the camera master be stored at a
commercial off-site storage facility. NEDCC offers off-site storage at
Iron Mountain-NUS. Their facility maintains microfilm in climate
controlled conditions in accordance with applicable national
standards."
A cost analysis can be found by completing this questionnaire:
http://www.nedcc.org/welcome/micques.htm
-------------------
Iron Mountain
http://www.ironmountain.com/records/
"With over 55 years of expertise and unmatched resources, we provide
Records Management solutions - for all media and formats, including
paper, digital, film, tape - to 98% of the Fortune 1000. Iron Mountain
is the global leader in information protection and storage, serving
over 90,000 organizations in 26 countries."
-------------------
Hudson Microimaging
http://www.hudsonmicroimaging.com/preservationmicrofilm.htm
Submit for pricing:
http://www.hudsonmicroimaging.com/price_request.htm
-------------------
Underground Vaults in Kansas
http://www.undergroundvaults.com/
"Our three underground storage facilities maintain a constant 40% ?
50% average relative humidity, 68°F/20°C average temperature,
regardless of weather or season. Microfilm vaults are dehumidified and
temperature-controlled to your specific needs. Buried deep underground
and miles away from disaster-prone areas, your microfilm is kept
protected from both natural and manmade disasters.
We also offer two unique preservation vaults: One limited to brown
toned microfilm, the other limited to silver based film."
http://www.undergroundvaults.com/offerings/itemsstored/microfilmstorage.html
-------------------
Western Micrographics
http://www.westernmicrographicsimaging.com/home.htm
San Diego, CA
Reasons to Combine Scanning with Microfilm:
http://www.westernmicrographicsimaging.com/combined.htm
Western Micrographics provides document services, but it does not have
storage facilities.
-------------------
Palmetto Microfilm and Imaging Systems
http://www.pmsimage.com/html/services.html
Palmetto does not have storage facilities, either.
-------------------
Costs for Building Your Own Center
The costs for building your own microfilm center are high.
They would include keeping the storage facility at the correct
temperature to maintain the film along with keeping the air free of
pollutants and the area free of certain plastics, chemicals, and other
materials that could be damaging to the film. Maintenance would have
to be performed on the facility daily. Those who handled the microfilm
would have to be trained in how to handle the microfilm without
damaging it. The costs associated with this are not light. Some
storage facilities are located underground, or beneath caves. You
would also need an uninterruptible power source such as a generator.
If there was any type of natural disaster, your files could all
disappear. You would want to find a location that is safe from
natural disasters. It would be less expensive and certainly less of a
hassle to simply store your documents in an already existing
underground storage center. It is safe to say that a storage facility
of your own could cost millions of dollars.
Ancestry Magazine-- "The Vault"
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=11011
"The perfect site for an underground vault would be within a
geologically stable formation of solid rock, with little to no water
seepage, conveniently located, and inexpensive to excavate."
The underground vault that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints built in Utah-- built to all these specifications-- cost $2
million to build in December 1963. Using the inflation calculator,
the same vault-- which was built 40 years ago and is not even the most
state-of-the-art vault that could be built-- would cost $12,216,045.00
to build in today's dollars. If your company does not want to spend
more than $12 million for a vault, they should probably look into the
options given by the Iron Mountain and Underground Vault companies
which I gave contact details for above. Their services will be
expensive, but certainly not millions of dollars-- less than $10,000 a
year and probably much less than that, in the low thousands.
There are certainly other options; you could build above-ground
storage, but it would certainly not be capable of the preservation
quality that below-ground would. I would imagine that the electricity
costs themselves for such a large undertaking (referring to
above-ground facilities) would be much higher than the thousands
involved in underground storage with a reputable facility. You have to
keep it away from other rooms or buildings, monitor it, have a
separate circulation system, pay people to maintain it and then when
you want a record, you must find it yourself without the computerized
help that a professional facility solicits. Here is a page which
details the many options available to a preservationist and their
costs:
"A Cost Comparison and Analysis of Storage Options for Media Collections"
http://mic.imtc.gatech.edu/preservationists_portal/presv_costcompare.htm
Northeast Document Conservation Center
http://www.nedcc.org/plam3/tleaf51.htm
"In general, microform requirements resemble those of other
photographic materials. Year-round relative humidity lower than 50% is
recommended for all film types. An upper limit of 40% is recommended
for silver-gelatin films to minimize the likelihood of microscopic
blemishes from silver oxidation (sometimes called "measles").
Temperature should not exceed 70°F; cooler temperatures are
preferable. Master films should be stored at maximums of 65°F, 35% RH,
±5%. ANSI/NAPM IT9.11-1993 and ANSI/PIMA IT9.2-1998 specify exact
conditions for archival storage of film.
If low temperatures are maintained for the storage of collections, and
if readers are located outside of the storage areas, a conditioning
period is required to allow gradual warming of cold films before they
are read. Rapid transfer from a cold to a warm space may cause water
condensation on the surface of the films.
Dehumidification systems should be refrigerant based. Desiccant-based
systems can generate fine dust particles that may scratch the surface
of films. Desiccant-charged storage cabinets are not recommended for
use with microform collections; the relative humidity in such a system
is difficult to monitor and control, and dust may abrade film
surfaces. If humidification is required to stabilize fluctuations in
the storage environment, it should be derived from a system with a
contaminant-free water source. Corrosion inhibitors used in many
large-scale systems can leave reactive deposits on library and
archival materials. Film is particularly susceptible to chemical and
abrasive damage from this source. Trays of water or chemical solutions
should never be used to humidify storage cabinets.
As in the case of paper artifacts, fluctuations in temperature and
relative humidity must be controlled for long-term preservation.
Relative humidity and temperature for microform collections in use
should not vary more than ±5%, and ±3% is preferable. The cooler the
storage and the better controlled the relative humidity, the longer
the expected life of the films.
Pollution
Particulate air pollutants are an obvious source of scratches and
abrasions for microfilm. Silver-gelatin films are particularly
vulnerable to such damage. House cleaning, including regular
vacuuming, is important in storage and use areas."
"Equipment should be inspected weekly and maintained daily. Dirty
equipment will decrease image quality. A staff member should have
assigned responsibility for equipment maintenance and should be
trained by the manufacturer's personnel."
A glimpse of the process can be seen in this summary by Hudson Microimaging:
http://www.hudsonmicroimaging.com/preservationmicrofilm.htm
"Microfilming is done on planetary cameras, including Zeutschel and
Gratek Congress I. Book cradles are available to allow bound volumes
to be microfilmed without disbinding. Engineering size documents can
be accommodated using the Kodak MRG.
The silver halide microfilm is processed in an Allen deep-tank
processor, which assures consistency in the replenishment of chemicals
and spot-free drying of the film. Weekly microfilm samples are sent to
an independent laboratory for Methylene Blue Testing (residual
thiosulfate) to assure archival quality. Hudson Microimaging
participates in the Kodak Microfilm Processing Program. Sample films
and testing records are sent to Kodak for further evaluation and
inspection. Kodak thus certifies our lab on a monthly basis."
If your company is truly serious about building its own storage
facility, this book will probably help in your efforts:
"RLG Preservation Microfilming Handbook"
http://www.rlg.org/pub.html#price2
Here are some additional guidelines for microfilm facilities:
South Carolina Microfilm Guidelines
http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/l11_str.htm
Here is the long list of guidelines involved with even deciding what
kind of microfilm boxes to use:
Library of Congress
"Specifications for Microfilm Box, Single Reel"
http://www.loc.gov/preserv/supply/specs/300-351.html
--------
As far as your other questions go:
how many images can fit on a reel of microfilm? There are different
viewpoints. According to a Harvard study, each reel of microfilm will
hold 1,618 pages of data. At this rate, for a million files you would
need 619 reels of microfilm to hold all your pages of data. Here is
the Harvard study:
Preliminary Results of Microfilm Investigation
http://preserve.harvard.edu/news/hybrid/microfilm_for_digitization.pdf
According to this page:
Ancestry Magazine-- "The Vault"
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=11011
"The average microfilm roll in the vault collection contains more than
1,000 images while the average microfiche contains a few hundred
images."
The average roll of microfilm would cost about $10-20, from what I can
gather. That would be at least $6000 with 600 rolls a year just in
film costs.
Tennessee Microfilm Order Form
http://www.state.tn.us/tsla/preservation/microfilm_order.htm
State of Utah History Research
http://historyresearch.utah.gov/services/costs.htm
------
How hard would it be to retrieve your files?
You would have to carefully keep track of which reels have which data
on them, you would have to label each box that the reel is kept in
appropriately, and you would have to keep track of each box's location
in your storage center.
Once you have found the correct file, you have to reproduce it in some
way. To reproduce it on photo paper is an expensive option. In order
to reproduce it on printing paper, a special scanner/copier has to be
purchased.
--------
Sources:
University of Massachusetts Medical Center
Hosptial Business Office Document Management System
http://www.acordex.com/consulting/HospitalStudy.html
Stanford Mailing List-- Microfilm Storage
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/padg/2000/02/msg00007.html
Inflation Calculator
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
Search terms:
microfilm preservation
microfilm storage
number images reel microfilm
retrieve file microfilm
Underground Vaults & Storage, Inc.
underground vaults microfilm
inflation calculator
microfilm roll purchase cost
If you need any additional information, let me know and I'll be glad to assist you.
--keystroke-ga |
