Micro forms are optically reduced forms of reading, storage, print, photographic items. Micro form images are commonly reduced 25 times than the original size of the document. For special purposes even higher reductions are also done. Such reductions (above 25) require greater display resolution. The different types of micro reductions used these days are microfilming, aperture cards and microfiche. Microfilming is done on reels and microfiche typically on flat sheets. Micro cards were similar to microfiche but were printed on cardboard rather than photographic film. Micro-cards are no longer in use these days.
These may be regarded as the conventional uses of scanning. Today, however, digital scanning can further enhance the already ‘micro’ modified images and texts, giving them extremely crisp resolution. The digitally enhanced images or texts appear brighter, are less hazy than the already reduced micro scanned data. Needless to say, this has many advantages. Hospitals use these techniques for electronic medical record scanning, saving a lot of paper. The libraries storing micro form data can greatly expand their storing capacity without risking loss or damage to fragile, old manuscript forms of certain books or prints. It requires less storage as well. Approximately 98 normal document sized pages fit in one fiche, reducing storage size up to 0.25%. A micro-form can reduce up to 95% of storage space required when compared to paper files. Moreover, since this is an analog form (actual image of the original data), it is easier to view. A simple magnifying glass does the trick. Software obsolescence is also done away with. It is a reliable archival form when stored properly, is almost impossible to mutilate, has low intrinsic value and is not likely to be stolen. Among the disadvantages, micro-forms are difficult to be read by the naked eye. Further, color micro-forms are very expensive and are not used by many libraries. Color photographic materials usually tend to fade over time and result in loss of important information.
