Box No. 0008

ALWAYS microfilm first!

At the risk of being boring, it seems that I must repeat and repeat the same message — Microfilm first, then, if you wish, transfer it to any other medium. To illustrate the importance of that advice there follows some extracts taken, verbatim, from a letter put out by a division of 3M. It actually says more for the unreliability of scanning directly from documents than I have ever managed. “Dear Valued Supplier: 3M introduced a new paperless disbursement system in late June. This system is designed to provide faster, more accurate payments to our suppliers. Unfortunately, we are experiencing start-up problems in the scanning operations, resulting in considerable system downtime during these past five to six weeks. These problems have resulted in: 1. Payment delays 2. Loss o f some invoice data altogether We sincerely apologise for the situation and any inconvenience you may be experiencing.” “I f you have not received payment for 45 days or longer, please send a letter and second invoice ...” “Please review your invoices to ensure they are printed clearly, and remove unnecessary perforations. Our scanner is having difficulty with invoices smaller than 814 "format, faint images, shaded areas, blue print and perforations. As we learn more about the scanner limitations, we will be working with suppliers individually.” These are not problems that would be experienced if the documentation was first microfilmed, then the film scanned.

Microvue prize winner

On their stand at the IMC Show in Berlin, Microvue Products conducted a raffle which offered a free one week visit to Israel. This was won by Mr. Arno Walter Pahl of I.E.C., Sao Paolo, Brazil. Also on their IMC booth was the Wondervue — the all new 16mm reader — which apparently drew phenomenal positive comments from the industry. The reader will, hopefully, also be on display on the Microvue stand at Microfilm Showcase in London.

Contact: Microvue Products Ltd., 112 Boundary Road, London NW8 ORH. Tel: 071 328 8823. Fax: 071 624 1242.

Aquired by Datacom

On 14 September 1992 Datacom Services Ltd. acquired the assets and goodwill of the Computer Output Microfilm (COM) services bureau business of NCR Limited. The initial cash payment is £1,000,000. The COM services bureau of NCR had a turnover of £1,428,000 in the year ending 30 November 1991. The net assets acquired amount to £191,000.

Contact: M. J. Elliott, Datacom Services Ltd., 47 Bast wick Street, London EC1V 3PS. Tel: 071 608 1351.

S IT U A T IO N W A N T E D 16 years in the Microfilm Industry — Diazo sales with technical background. Good knowledge of U.K. and European markets. Fit, willing to travel — would consider anything. W rite B ox No. 0 0 0 8

HSE-sponsored research reassures prgenant women users of VDUs

Pregnant women who work with visual display units (VDUs) are not at increased risk of miscarrying. This is the main finding of newly published research sponsored mainly by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and which backs up earlier published studies in North America. Commenting on the new study, Dr Colin Mackay, chief ergonomist at the HSE, said: “ This new research, the first of its kind to be carried out on a UK working population, was specifically designed to investigate the alleged increased incidence of spontaneous abortion in women exposed to VDUs at work. “ In recent years there has been much speculation and concern about the suggestion that working with VDUs may cause birth defects, miscarriage and other adverse reproductive effects. Much of the anxiety has persisted despite a number i of studies carried out in North America and Scandinavia.

“ Based on a large sample — some 450 pregnant women participated — the results of this new British study are reassuring and back up the earlier studies abroad. It shows that pregnant women who work, even habitually, at VDUs are not at increased risk of miscarriage.” Dr Eve Roman, who led the study, said: “ We found it made no difference whether a woman worked on a VDU as part of her general day, whether she just used it occasionally or whether her only contact with a VDU was that it happened to be in the same room.” The study’s main conclusion reads: “Given the findings and their consistency with the results from other recent studies it is concluded that pregnant women who work with VDUs are not at increased risk of clinically diagnosed spontaneous abortion. For the many women who use VDUs in their jobs, this finding provides reassurance.” Contact: HSE Information Centre, Sheffield. Tel: (0742) 892345.

The Times and Sunday Times on CD-ROM Research Publications International (RPI) has been appointed a world-wide distributor of The Times and The Sunday Times on CD-ROM. The world’s largest supplier of European newspapers in microform, and well-known for its series of newspaper indexes, RPI is now rapidly expanding its service to libraries and documentation centres by offering multi-format options to key titles. Colin Kyte, Managing Director of RPI’s Reading office comments that: “ We are very pleased to add The Times on compact disc to our existing services to the information community. The primary British newspaper of record is now available from RPI in both complete archival and instantly searchable formats, to suit every individual library’s needs”. Package pricing is now available for subscribers to both the microform and CD formats. “ There is a growing demand for electronic delivery of current newspaper information”, says Mark Holland, RPI’s Marketing Director, “ but most current subscribers to our newspaper titles tell us they wish to maintain their microform subscriptions to ensure the complete paper — statistics, advertising, stock market data, arts and sports listings — is available to the widest possible audience. By making the two formats available together, RPI alone offers the ideal news information solution.” Until 30 November 1992 RPI is offering The Times on CD 1992 at special introductory prices: £250 for film subscribers to The Times £300 for purchasers of the CD as a stand-alone purchase CD-ROM backfiles are also available for 1990 and 1991, priced at £199 p.a., and there are special prices available for educational institutions. Delivery is quarterly. Each disc contains the text of both newspapers for the year to date. Contact: Research Publications Int., P.O. Box 45, Reading, RG1 8HF. Tel: (0734) 583247. Fax: (0734) 591325.

MKT 11/92

The new MP60. And the new MP90. Between them, they’ve inherited all the virtues that made the PC70 and PC80 such odds-on favourites when they were launched.

Take the MP60. No desktop reader printer can offer you more for today’s COM/document microfiche application. Here’s why.

Side by side with its competitors, the MP60 warms up faster, prints faster and better, covers a wider range of magnification, has a more user-friendly maintenance system, even needs refilling with paper less frequently.

And the MP60 comes with a list of options — like mask printing, automatic exposure and motorised roll-film carrier — which are simply not available with others.

Or take the MP90. Automation is key to operational efficiency these days. And the MP90 is just about as automated as you can get.

Not just with automatic threading, automatic image rotation, automatic retrieval and printing. But also with thoughtful touches like automatically stopped before film end, thus allowing non-secured film to be searched safely.

I M f i k \ j I * Im T J u

I i i p n M K T v r j P T T

MP90

Now consider them together. Both use the maintenance-free MP Cartridge Printing System. Both are full of economical touches, such as the power-saving reader-only mode. Both employ Canon’s matchless copying technology.

Whatever your microfilm management strategy, between them the MP60 and the MP90 will fit its demands beautifully.

To you, they spell top performance, ease of use and enhanced economy.

Above all, they spell a good bet.

I--------------------------------------------------------------- | PLEASE TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE MP6O/90/M M 11 I MP60 AND THE MP90

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