I find microfiche sexy

Am I the only one?

fetish threads go on iltmi, hurting.

Or maybe I mean microfilm? The kind that comes in spools/reels.

I love shacking up in some library basement with it, I love the winding sound and feel, and I get a little bit of a thrill of the chase looking for whatever it is I'm looking for - the blur of the film across the screen almost makes me feel like I'm running after something.

I haven't used it since 2002, because everything I used it for has since been digitized and made freely available online. But there was a time where I spent a lot of time on these machines. I would typically be looking for writings on a particular topic in texts written in Renaissance Italian or Latin (neither of which I am particularly good at, but good enough I guess), or Renaissance French or English (somewhat easier). I'd spend hours flipping through these collected works of some lost figure, trying to see if they said something about imaginary numbers or whatever, and maybe once an hour I'd strike, er, bronze. I definitely felt like a detective, and I know what you mean about the ambience, but I think I prefer doing full-text searches online instead.

Yeah, I also hadn't done it since years ago (in my newspaper days when I'd have to look through old back issues of local papers), but today I had to find a 1970s USNews that was only on microfiche. The whole thing is very aesthetic and dramatic - I feel like it's been used effectively in films before but nothing comes to mind.

The library at my university had about 20 readers for microfilm/fiche that were rarely in use. I think most students were either intimidated by it or didn't know it was there in the first place, but I used microfilm a LOT in university though (from newspapers from 1850s-1920s, usually). In some ways I prefer it to digital. I like seeing the ads and layouts and (not so high quality) pictures that you don't get with digital versions. And I liked the feeling of being one of the few of thousands of students who ever gave the microfilm any love.

yeah i love both microfiche and microfilm! and the sound microfilm makes.

ha, yea i think it's pretty cool too even though i almost never use it. it feels like i'm really digging for something, like i'm some kind of detective, ha

you are not the only one. also, nineteenth century handwriting on microfilm/microfiche is sexy.

this is all microfilm

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/3729557500_490beb36eb_o.jpg

8=======)~~~~~~~

not entirely sure I want to be situated under that post, but anyway: I think The X Files had some good scenes of INTENSE MICROFICHING.

Five years at my university and I haven't used the microfiche/film. I've not had any reason to, but I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of fun.

I hated hated hated the microfiche reader when I worked at the university library when I was still in school, because no one knew how to get it to work and I had to set it up for them and try to fix it when it stopped working (which seemed like 50% of the time). They would be fun if they were easier to use -- maybe it was just the model U of M had, but it was just the clunkiest and most user-unfriendly thing in the world.

Last time I used a microfiche was when a friend & I decided to look at our birthdate newspapers, which was a fun afternoon.

Why thank you, Hurting! I like you very much as well...

(damn! Forgot it would show my real name)

microfilm >>>>>>>>>>>>> microfiche

People are always saying microfiche when they mean microfilm. It used to annoy me when I was a librarian. STOP TRYING TO MAKE OUT YOU'RE A LIBRARY-LOVER BY USING THE WORD MICROFICHE.

The whooshing sensation you get with fast-forwarding/rewinding microfilm is indeed pretty cool.

There's a lot of Microfiche obsession in Gunter Grass's 'The Tin Drum' if I'm remembering correctly.

always gave me a headache when i would look at old newspapers at my town library when i was a kid. always.

http://img.freebase.com/api/trans/image_thumb/en/johann_gottlieb_fichte?pad=1&maxheight=64&mode=fillcropmid&maxwidth=64

Microfichte

jason bourne woke up w/microfilm up his butt and no memory of who he was

I once had a temp job developing this stuff. It was awesome because I would develop the film right away. Then I would sleep in the darkroom. Nobody could come in without knocking.

Hey, was just about to say that I had a job developing this stuff too. Just dicking about in the darkroom all day listening to music. Had to check the film for errors though as well, that was a really sucky part of the job, spooling through it page by page looking for filming fuck-ups, zzzzzz.

not microfilm but mee too as to the experience of hanging out in the darkroom pretending to work

the error/unreadability rate on these things can be pretty bad tbh, but it does feel like RESEARCH

Protagonist Scrolls Intensely Through Microfilm

October 24, 2009

NEW HAVEN, CT—A headstrong young protagonist in way over her head visited the microfilm room of the New Haven Public Library Tuesday night in order to delve deeper into a riveting plotline that could put her career—and maybe even her life—on the line.

Everything—the suicide note, the creek, the tight-lipped pharmacist—starts to come together for the protagonist.

According to sources, the plucky and determined woman worked late into the evening, whirring methodically through a reel of archived newspapers in search of information that could unlock a secret better left untouched.

The inquisitive main character then reportedly scrolled past the material she was looking for before carefully winding the microfilm in reverse and adjusting the focus on a single significant headline.

"'Mysterious Sickness Baffles Community,'" whispered the journalist, her lips barely moving as she scanned two seemingly unrelated front-page articles from a 1995 issue of the New Haven Gazette. "'WorldChem To Open New Plant Near Interstate.'"

Added the tireless investigator, "WorldChem…"

A number of key supporting characters confirmed Tuesday that the attractive, no-nonsense young writer would likely not rest until she had unearthed every last detail of what she assured them was "just a hunch." Library sources reported that the protagonist moved confidently through thousands of periodicals—as well as various city, county, and state records—before finding the exact items she desired.

"Bingo," said the journalist, positively identifying the mayor's ex-wife in a photo with a WorldChem executive. "And Lt. Gov. Michaels. What's going on here?"

Sources said a thud from somewhere in the dark room then frightened the likable and quietly determined heroine, who had been warned by her father—a retired newspaperman himself—that she was playing with fire and would do well to go back to covering broken water mains and city council meetings.

"Hello?" the frightened young woman said before returning to her work. "Hello?"

According to reports, several hours seemed to sweep by within a matter of seconds as the journalist viewed numerous headlines in rapid succession, each blurring into the next and implicating more and more powerful individuals in a tangled web that, just moments earlier, was completely unknown to any but those directly involved.

"Oh my God," said the protagonist, grasping that she had just pieced together a statewide conspiracy, the exact details of which were apparent only to her but which, reports suggested, might link high-ranking officials to some manner of corporate malfeasance and would almost certainly threaten to bring down the entire power structure. "This goes all the way to the top."

"What have I gotten myself into?" she added.

Sources said that as the fictional reporter realized she was likely embroiled in a dangerous game of greed and corruption with public figures capable of anything, she was interrupted by a sudden, startling tap on her shoulder, which ended up being nothing more than the night librarian.

"We're closing in five minutes, miss," the peripheral character said.

The journalist was later seen walking through the library's parking lot frantically talking on her cell phone to her editor, a gruff but ultimately adoring mentor who had agreed to let her continue her investigation only upon realizing she was too stubborn to take no for an answer anyway.

At press time, a blinding set of headlights from across the lot had suddenly burst into view