The Green Sheet 024

I N C O R P O R A T I N G THE M I C R O G R A P H I C S M A R K E T P L A C E AND THE M I C R O G R A P H I C S N E W S L E T T E R

Issue No. 24

ISSN 1476-3842

Visit The Green Sheet Web Site at: www.green-sheet.net

UPTON SERVICES ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

T H E G R E EN S H E E T

F or A ll your GAF/A arque /Xidex 1635 N eeds, S ales , S ervice, S pares, R epairs and R ebuilds .

Tim Nixon

A SM ALL COM PANY B U T THE U K'S LA R G EST

G raphic Design

IN TH IS SP E C IA L IST MARKET.

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FO R S U B S C R IP T IO N D E T A IL S P L E A S E C O N T A C T :-

MICROGRAPHICS MARKETING LTD.

Editor

A d m in istra tio n

C arole Nixon Paul En so r

65 Winchester Drive, Burbage, Leicestershire LE10 2BA, United Kingdom Tel: +44 ( 0 ) 24 7638 2328 Fax: +44 ( 0 ) 24 7638 2319 Mobile: 07970 248146 U.K. E-mail - gsinfo@green-sheet.net U.S. E-mail - MNgreensheet@aol.com Visit our Web Site at w ww.green-sheet.net

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CONTACT US NOW //////////// ★ We

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always have in sto c k a s e l e c t io n o f seco n d u se r

PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT, EVERY PIECE OF WHICH HAS BEEN “P R O PE R L Y ” RECONDITIONED.

I n c lu d in g :GAF 1635 HSD N o n V e n t ................................................................... £ 7000.00 XIDEX 1635 RRD N o n V e n t ............................................................. £ 4250.00

I.A I 1635 H SD A'k n : as new

£ 9.500.00

780............................................................................. £ 1500.00 2250.00 B ell & H owell F/M3 f r o m .........................................£1750.00 R eal RB20 (latest spe c ) ..............................................£4250.00 R eal RB70 (latest spe c ) ..............................................£2250.00 F u ji A P5 pr o c e s s o r .......................................................£3250.00 P hotoclark HE610 D ensitometer as new ................. £ p . o .a .

Canon

K o d a k R o t a l in e ( im m a c u l a t e ) ........................................................£

ADVERTISERS' INDEX IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

Advance Group................................................................................................3 Altek System s .............................................................................................. 23 Cardamation................................................................................................. 23 Connecticut Micrographics.......................................................................... 23 Dass Laboratories........................................................................................ 23 DSS UK ............................................................................................................5 e-Image Data................................................................................................ 17 Genus ............................................................................................................ 22 GG Baker..........................................................................................................6 Imaging System s ......................................................................................... 23 Kodak............................................................................................................. 24 Mercury Visuals............................................................................................. 23 MicroVue Products ......................................................................................... 9 M STC ............................................................................................................. 23 Penny Imaging Exchange ............................................................................ 23 Solar Microfilm Equipment.................................................................... 13,21 Trans Media Technology.............................................................................. 15 Upton Services ................................................................................................2 Versalmage................................................................................................... 11 Virtual Image Technology............................................................................. 8 Western Micrographics System s ................................................................. 23 Wicks & Wilson................................................................................................7

ADVERTISERS RATES 2003 Advertising Data (U K & Europe)

N E W !!!

W e are now th e

2 7 5 x 400

£1200.00

Outside back cover

2 7 5 x 190

£ 800.00

M anufactu rer of the

Full page

2 7 5 x 190

£ 650.00

V is i t e r (M ic o b r a )

Half page

138 x 190 o r 275 x 93

£ 40 0.00

138 x 93 or 6 9 x 190

£ 250.00

Front page solus

120x93

£ 325.00

Eighth page

69x93

£

R a n g e o f D u p l ic a t o r s IF WHAT Y OU R E Q U IR E IS N O T L IST E D P L E A S E CONTACT U S F O R AVAILABILITY PLUS E xtensive

Cost

Type Area (mm) Double page spread

stocks of new and second hand spare parts

W e o ffer a full workshop repair service for

C anon F ile + F ilemaster

camera heads

Quarter page

Advertising Data (U S & Canada) Type Area (inches)

UPTON SERVICES (Micrographics) Ltd 14 MARINE DRIVE OGMORE BY SEA, VALE OF GLAMORGAN CF32 0PJ, UNITED KINGDOM TEL: +44 (0)1656-881071 FAX: +44 (0)1656-881072 Web Address: www.uptonservices.com Email: sales@uptonservices.com

Cost

Double page spread

1 0 ,,4 x 13 v‘

Outside back cover

10 v- x 7 v’

U S $ 1 1 2 0 .0 0

10 *'• x 7 5 ,/> x 7 7> or 10 J/‘ x 3 !/«

U S S 910.00

Full page Half page

5 1/1 x 3 s/‘ or 2 ,/4x 7 v•

Quarter page C ontact us now for details

150.00

U S $ 2 0 1 6 .0 0

U S S 560.00 U S S 350.00

Front page solus

4 ‘/a x 3

U S S 45 5.00

Eighth page

2 1/4 x 3 !/-

U S S 210.00

Colour rates: A ll above rates are for full colour advertising.

Artw ork should be supplied as 3 0 0 dpi images on C D or Z ip Disk as TIFF, EPS, JPEG, PDF, Quark Xpress, Photoshop or Illustrator files.

Discounts Series discount - (4 or more insertions on one order)

10% discount

Pre-payment discount - (payment must be made on or before copy deadline but does not include classified) A gency discount

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1 5% discount 10% discount

Above discounts cannot be combined All above rates are subject to V.A.T. in the UKat the current rate.

This magazine is copyright of the publisher - Micrographics Marketing Ltd, Burbage LE10 2BA UK Tel: 024 7638 2328 Fax: 024 7638 2319 Email: gsinfo@green-sheet.net

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THE GREEN SHEET SEMINAR - Programme 2004 Our successful series on “The Changing Role o f Records Management” culminated in two lively seminars in Manchester and London last March. In 2004 we will be going regional in the UK with a series of seminars supporting the introduction of Freedom of Information law which comes into full effect on the 1st Januaiy 2005. This is part of the European Union harmonisation of regulations and brings UK law into line with similar legislation which has been in place in some countries for decades: The USA introduced Freedom of Information in 1966 and Canada, New Zealand and Australia introduced similar acts under Freedom of Information or Access to Information in the early 80’s. In general, Europe has been slower. Early adopters such as Ireland introduced legislation in 1997, the UK Act passed through Parliament in 2000 and some countries have still not introduced effective legislation.

But perhaps the biggest change will be one of attitude: from the chair downwards employees will need to implicitly understand that all information requests must be treated as reasonable and change their attitude from one of “we don’t usually disclose that information” to one of “is there any reason why we shouldn’t disclose that information?”

Tl\e act in the UK affects over 100,000 public bodies, from the largest government departments to the smallest nursery school. What’s more there are some provisions which make it very far reaching:

So what, you might ask, has this got to do with the Green Sheet Seminar Programme 2004? Entitled “The Information Culture Change” these regional events are aimed at management charged with effecting the necessary change to handle information requests and senior management in smaller organisations who need to understand the legislation and how to deal with it. Our first lecture is planned for 19th February 2004 at the Flinckley Golf Club in Leicestershire.

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It is retrospective, in that information produced before the act was introduced can be requested.

It is inclusive, in that any written request (including email) for information must be treated as a request under the act.

Organisations must respond to a request within twenty days.

Organisations cannot respond by saying that they do not know if they have the information.

Organisations need to record requests under the act and to document all decisions relating to the disclosure or non-disclosure of information.

There are penalties if organisations fail to comply.

So, in short, the legislation has a major impact in three main areas: 1) On People - anybody dealing with the public has to be aware of the act to the extent that they can recognise a request for information and know how to deal with it or who to refer it to.

2) On Processes - in that all public bodies need to know what information they hold and have procedures in place for handling information requests.

3) On Technology - organisations need to introduce appropriate technologies to harness their information and monitor requests. This can vary from the introduction a large electronic document and records management system in a central government department to the tidying up of the paper filing system in a nursery school, combined with the introduction of an access request log.

All organisations have to introduce a publication scheme which specifies the standard information that they will make available and how people can access it. Further details of the act, publication schemes and suggested model publication schemes can be found on the Information Commissioner’s web site at http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/.

Individuals requesting information for standard material can then be referred to the publication scheme and no further action is then required.

In technology terms, the larger organisations are beginning to get to grips with the information they hold and, by talking to a number of salesman in the industry, I am sure that 2003 will prove to have been a veiy successful year for EDRMS suppliers. I would suggest that the market will remain as buoyant in 2004 and, as smaller organisations re-examine their technology requirements, we should see a growth in the supply of everything down to smaller electronic capture and storage systems and even paper handling systems.

Suppliers wishing to get involved in the seminar series should, in the first instance, contact the editor - Tim Nixon at tim@green-sheet.net

MANAGING BRITAIN'S MICROFILM LEGACY AMI The Advance Group Tel: 01902 459907 E-mail: docman@ami.co.uk www.ami.co.uk

COM: a mature technology means smarter usage COM volume has declined but its acceptance as an archival tool has gone up.

The scene: An information technology classroom.

Instructor: Okay class, what does COM spell?

Students: Let’s hear it for ‘mature microfilm technology!”

Instructor: And who is using it?

Students: Lots of government agencies, banks, insurance companies and other financial organisations with loads of information that must be kept inexpensively, but always be accessible, without worries of technological obsolescence.

Perhaps it’s an unlikely educational scenario but that, in a nutshell, is the current situation of worldwide COM (yes, we know it really spells Computer Output Microfilm). But there are some interesting changes on the worldwide COM scene from just a few years ago. With one notable exception, all major new manufacture is now outside the US, although in terms of volume there are probably still more users within the US than elsewhere,the rest of the world is moving up.

This is particularly true in the world’s fastest growing market, China. With 1.3 billion people (almost twice the population of the European Union and the United States combined), China already has the most cellphones, the largest market for TV sets and the fastest-growing one for automobiles. Whilst the demand for microfilm and COM equipment obviously will never be in, or near, the same league as such consumer items, nor in the league for computer and digital equipment, it is on the rise. The reason is simple: now the world’s sixth-largest economy, China is gaining fast on the top two, the US and Japan.

For example, Andy Lawrence, Worldwide Marketing Manager, Eastman Kodak Commercial Imaging Group, told TGS that since the SARS epidemic subsided, China is once again a good emerging market for products. The company reports a number of Archive Writer placements. In China Kodak promotes total reference archiving systems, of which Archive Writers are one element. The company gives combined reference archiving and capture/document imaging seminars for potential users dozens of times a year in China.

PAGE 4

Usage trends: COM + CD Local government agencies continue to be big users of COM with “big” denoting large volumes of production.

Interestingly COM output is partnering more and more with digital output.

For example, Sally Fritcher, Administrator, Illinois State Archives Micrographics Services, notes that her department’s original COM output numbers are on the rise. In fiscal year 2003, nearly 210 million data pages were recorded on silver film, 997,084 original COM fiche were produced and 8.4 million feet of total footage were processed. The decline has been in duplicate copies which fell nearly 24°/o in the last year from 3.0 million to 2.3 million. “The reason is that most users want the film produced as a backup, but the same information burned to CD for their working copy instead of a vesicular copy,” Fritcher said. “At the same time our CD production increased 266°/o (in the last year)”.

Tim Anstine, director-COM and micrographic services, Pennsylvania State Document Image Services Center (DISC), reports the same trend. “Like most COM shops we have seen

a slight drop in COM production. Some of our work has gone the way of on-line and some has been converted to CD-ROM. We have been very proactive in producing CD-ROMs for client state agencies that want to convert their COM data to CD-ROMs,” Anstine said. “We have eliminated all source document microfilm cameras except for one 16mm camera.

Today all paper work at DISC is scanned first and then converted to film on an XFP 2000.” The department operates one XFP that can produce 105mm fiche and 16mm film and another that can produce 105mm only.

The slight decline in COM production Anstine reports may in part be a byproduct of the budgetary constraints that have affected virtually every US State operation. “Some users have cut back on our scanning and filming services,” he said, but was happy to be able to report that his department had about the same number of employees as in the past. “Our total operation has changed. While there is somewhat less COM, we are doing more microfilm and paper scanning”.

The marriage between dual COM and CD output (for long­ term and short-term needs) seems also to be an ongoing trend among clients of COM service bureaux as well as large inhouse operations.

COM market players In a declining but still significant market, who are the COM recorder players? They break down into two groupings: the majors and the minors. Major worldwide manufacturing sources for COM today are Eastman Kodak, Agfa, GID and Fuji. The minors, which also include some major firms that may be producers of very specialised COM equipment, are everybody else - Image Graphics, Microbox, Quintek, Staude and Wicks and Wilson. There’s also Anacomp which no longer manufactures COM recorders but is still selling “as new” XFP 2000 and 1DP1600 platforms that are now referred to as Digital Imaging Systems.

We’ve compiled the following capsule listing and briefing on today’s players and their products for The Green Sheet readers. These are firms that actively sell new COM recorders to end users and service bureaux around the world. We also note the web sites where product and company information can be viewed.

The Majors Eastman Kodak’s Document Archive Writer is the centrepiece of Kodak’s digital preservation strategy. The most current 9600 series with two models, the 9610 and 9620, was introduced in 2003. Both have better image quality than the predecessor 4800 series - 9600 pixels versus 4800 pixels, hence the series nomenclature change. The 9610 is the same speed as its predecessor but costs somewhat less. The 9620 runs at twice the speed at only a 25°/o higher cost. At 24X reduction it does 170 ipm and at 40X 400 ipm. Like its predecessor it accepts document images in TIFF, JPEG and other raster formats and generates logically ordered and indexed copies of the images on a special silver halide 16mm microfilm made for use on the Archive Writer. Software written for the Archive Writer by a number of firms, with whom Kodak has strategic partnerships, builds a list of digital documents - whether scanned from paper or generated within a line of business, and from desktop applications - and their

locations, based on preset criteria. This logically ordered list is used to drive the Archive Writer, which then creates the film images and a corresponding preservation index.

There is now also a software module that allows for a seamless bridge between a paper scanner, the Archive Writer, a Kodak i7300 microfilm scanner and compatible document management software.

Kodak said that it is experiencing 10-15°/o year-over-year growth in Archive Writer sales and the number of installed units worldwide is approaching 1,000. “The Archive Writer’s biggest competitor isn’t other recorders,” said Kodak’s Andy Lawrence, “it’s still paper”.

Visit www.kodak.com/go/docimaging.

Agfa, which has offered COM recorder systems for more than 20 years, sells COM in Europe only. Effective Januaiy 1, 2004 all such sales will be through an exclusive dealer, Microform GmBH in Germany. Agfa will no longer do direct selling.

The company produces the COM 3000 APA Raster Image Procdessor for the high volume COM market. It is a successor t i the 2400 series. Connected to the Ethernet, the 3000 enables users to optimise use of their data acquisition to the SCSI-2 standard. The latest development is new software called OpenData. It has the same functionality, look and feel as the prior OpenCom software except that output is used for CD archiving only. As output to CD, Agfa supports text mode, PDF and TIFF. Agfa also still manufactures and offers for sale the COM 2502 for lesser volume applications. Visit www.agfa.com GID Group, which sells its COM System 6880 worldwide for the large volume user, believes “there is still a worldwide market for COM business”. CEO Ernstfried Driesen argues microfilm is still the cheapest and most secure solution for long-term archiving in both the US and Europe. Fie cites a reverse trend in some parts of Europe, notably France, where users are returning to microfiche from what they consider insecure CD-technology. Driesen claims the most logical system for users is a mix of analogue and digital technologies, the former for security and the latter for immediate usage.

GID, with several recent major banking clients in its home German market, promotes the 6880, which can produce 90120 fiche per hour in a production environment, with several new software packages. Aided by a Windows-based operating system, the recorder is designed to operate in a near lights out environment, requiring minimal operator attention. This translates to cost reductions in operation and production costs. For the 6880 GID provides its IDS@0PEN software, a package that operates in the industry standard Windows NT environment. For fiche output, the ids@ope,.com programme processes alphanumeric data while the ids@open Image Handler processes both alphanumeric and image data.

A complementary Packager 6899 unit envelopes fiche masters and/or duplicates in-line from the production system into shipment-ready envelopes. It includes automatic address printing arid quality check, automatic labeling, bar code check and monitoring. Visit www.gid-it.com Fujifilm, which introduced its first COM recorder in 1974, only manufactures and markets systems for the needs of Japanese users, namely the capacity for processing Kanji characters. Currently Fuji has over 50% of the Japanese

Nationwide

DSS

fie provider and supplier of Document Management Solutions Evolved from 3M and Im ation................

• Hardware - Large format scanners and plotters - Aperture card scanners and plotters

- Supplies - Aperture cards, camera cards, plotter cards, duplicards - Chemicals for 3M cameras and microfilm plotters - Toner for 3M reader printers

• Services - Scanning of drawings and cards - Plotting of 35mm aperture cards - Service and maintenance of all 3M micrographics equipment

• Software - Document Management Software

Web:

www.dss-uk.co.uk

Email:

info@dss-uk.co.uk

Phone:

01344-350527

market and produces two recorders. The FMIP 2000 and FMIP 2000W target end users such as banks. The FMIP uses dry processing and outputs fiche. The FMIP 2000W is a wet processing system, geared toward service bureaux and capable of 105mm and 16mm roll film processing.

Both models have a COM film/CD-R. output capacity. Using Fuji’s Searchview software system they can output on both film and CD-R. Fuji finds more Japanese users are opting for both outputs just as are users elsewhere in the world. The company accepts that electronic storage is gaining in popularity, but says the problem of long-term storage of data is only solved by microfilm.

Visit masanobu_kurokawa@fujifilm.co.jp The Minors Image Graphics is the manufacturer of the MP 6000 Electron Beam Recorder, described as an all-in-one All Points Addressable (APA) system. It uses a 4-micron beam that is claimed to “create the industry’s sharpest dot” and is said to offer throughput that is 5X faster than most conventional COM systems. It can record standalone or from a LAN. All processing is in-line and no pre-processing is required.

The high end unit’s computer-controlled electronic beam records PostScript, PDF, or any other file as well as ASCII, raster and vector data. Archival quality images are exposed directly onto a choice of 105mm, 70mm, 35mm and 16mm silver halide film that is conventionally processed.

Resolution available is from 200-600 dpi and can be greater if needed. The MP 6000 also can produce grayscale images.

Visit www.igraph.com Microbox’s Polycom is a network printer from Germany that gathers images from a variety of sources - document scanners, large format scanners, CAD and office workstations - and produces archival quality 105mm microfilm. AO drawings are produced as a full frame in 400 dpi. A4 drawings and charts are generated 16 images to a film at 400 dpi. Two other modes are available, 64 images per film and 128 images per film, both at 200 dpi.. An index at the beginning and end of the film facilitates retrieval.

Visit www.microbox.de Quintek’s Q4300 aperture card plotter system is a specialty unit that qualifies for this listing because it utilises a high resolution helium-neon laser to record rasterized data onto a 35mm film chip. The plotter, based on Quintek’s Q4305 card recorder, uses heat to develop and fix dry silver film. It also uses an internal module to print and optionally punch the related index information onto the aperture card. Cards are housed within a 250-card cassette.

The 4305 card recorder unit is controlled by the Q4303 Universal Interface Unit. It performs all appropriate data conversion/data preparation with a multitude of image formats including vector, raster, ASCII and PostScript.

Visit www.quintek.com Staude’s digi-fiche is a system that automatically converts most digital raster image files (TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PCX, SGI, CALS, PhotoShop) to archival analogue images on 105mm microfilm. The company says “existing data on different storage media can be processed in the same way as current images in an active workflow”. The end product is a 98-frame fiche, processed at up to 2,500 images per hour. The unit can also print to color film. A Windows 98/2000 workstation is included as part of the system.

digi-fiche is distributed in Europe, depending on the country,

by Staude itself and by SMA. Staude, for example, distributes on its own in Germany and other German-speaking countries while SMA holds distribution rights to most other countries and sells directly or through its dealers. In the US SMA has licensed Analogue Imaging and Information Imaging as dealers. Visit www.sma-edoc.com Wicks and Wilson, a key player on the world microfilm scene for 30 years and a major film scanner manufacturer, for a long time has offered the highly-regarded ACO-2 COM plotter. In fact, it is probably the longest established unit that plots digital image data from a CAD system or document management system onto microfilm aperture cards. Raster or vector digital image data is passed to the system’s Plotstation and automatically laser-plotted onto industry standard archival microfilm aperture cards with Hollerith punching and printing. The 35mm film chips in the cards provide the permanent image of an engineering drawing or other documents.

Plotting resolution on the ACO-2 is 100-400 dpi. Throughput is 35 cards/hour at 200 dpi and 25 cards/hour at 400 dpi. The camera card input cassette holds 250 cards as does the output hopper. There also is a 100-card reject hopper. The ACO-2 uses a low power helium-neon laser.

Wicks and Wilson handles worldwide distribution of the ACO-2 except in the US where Tameran is its exclusive dealer. Visit www.wwl.co.uk The exception Anacomp no longer manufacturers COM recorders but still sells “as new” from inventory its XFP 2000 and IDP 1600 units, both now referred to as Digital Imaging Systems rather than as COM recorders. The XFP 2000 can be configured to receive data off-line via magnetic tape, on-line via channel connection, or via a LAN. The machine’s basic output is 105mm master fiche but it can also be set up to produce 16mm roll film. Internal processing can be either wet or dry and produces, as desired, either a negative or positive master (depending on the film used).

The XFP outputs resolutions up to 300 dpi, with speeds of up to 400 pages per minute. Image Direct software, a client/server application programme, simplifies the process of archiving document images. The XFP system can optionally support page printer output codes of AFP from IBM and metacode from Xerox. Reduction ratios of 24X, 42X, 48X and 72X are available.

The IDP 1600 is a simplified 16mm roll film-only version with no internal film processor. It is bundled with network and Image Direct software and offers 120 dpi resolution and 24X, 42X, 48X and 72X reduction ratios.

Visit www.anacomp.com

FREE INFORMATION G G Baker & Associates - suppliers of unbiased reference works for over 30 years - invite you to use their very extensive website at

www.ggbaker.com The UK's most comprehensive directory o f document management products and services.

Tutorials relating to electronic document management micrographics and hybrid systems.

The content is regularly updated and can be accessed w ith o u t charge.

Aperture Card Plotter

COM

Computer Output to Microfilm

The ACO-2 is a complete aperture card plotting solution providing all the hardware and software to produce archival quality imaged, punched and printed 35mm aperture cards from electronic images or CAD files.

A Plotstation from Wicks and Wilson covers everything that is required for individual or batch production of complete industry standard aperture cards with speed, acuracy and unsurpassed imaged quality.

For further information call Wicks and Wilson on + 4 4 (0)1256 842211 or email sales@wwl.co.uk For a full list of dealers please visit our website www.wwl.co.uk

Wicks and Wilson Limited Morse Road, Basingstoke Hampshire, RG22 6PQ UK Telephone: + 4 4 (0 )1 2 5 6 842211 Fax: + 4 4 (0 )1 2 5 6 840997

^ ^

Wicks and Wilson

PAGf 8

COM Service Bureau Market Trends One major US bureau finds IT technologies are the biggest competition as COM usage becomes almost strictly archival and not for daily retrievals.

by Marc McQueen, Director o f Marketing, VIT Imagetech

COM continues to be replaced by new technology - i.e. electronic storage in PDFs or off-the-shelf standalone CD archive solutions. Additionally, data is being kept on-line longer because of the decreasing costs of RAID/DISC storage.

As a result, outsourcing of applications to COM continues to decline. The hardware, software, and real estate required to archive data electronically in-house is less and less of a major issue.

COM, while still an important factor in the public sector government agencies, universities and utilities - where long­ term retention in a major requirement, has largely become a medium for archive or disaster recovery. COM is not being utilised for daily retrievals.

Applications such as statements or invoices, which once were big users of film duplicates for distribution, now archive and distribute electronically. The archiving of student transcripts, as well as various types of financial data, seems to be a hot button with many public education facilities in the US. Fewer new applications, but more technology switches There are really few new applications popping up to replace those that are disappearing. Some, but not too many, TIFF images are going to 105mm COM where 16mm roll film is not wanted. In the financial sector, many banks have embraced enterprise COLD systems for their statements and reports.

Virtual Image Technology,

Even where COM continues to be used, the impact of the digital revolution is felt strongly. About 90% of the data we receive is now FTP’d or transmitted via a secure connection such as a T-l or VTN line. Flowever, we are still receiving 3480, 3490, 4mm, 8mm and 6250 round reels. Tapes are still sent in by users who are not comfortable with the internet.

Standalone or enterprise software/storage applications are replacing the need for COM service bureaux in many instances. At VIT we find our biggest competition these days is in-house IT, not our traditional service bureau competitors.

We’ve lost a few accounts, but not many, to clients who have bought an Archive Writer. We actually have two but find they’re primarily for the utility and government markets.

Unlike the situation a few years ago, not too many people are outsourcing their in-house COM to us and we’ve seen only a few takeaways from competition. What we do see is a continued decline in COM. One result that comes out of this is that parts are harder to come by and we, like others, use excess machines for parts. Consequently we have replaced some of our COM capability with our own new technologies CD, network, and/or web ASP archive solutions.

COM has become an archival and disaster recovery medium, not one for daily retrievals. As such we see a continued decline, but not demise, of COM, whether we are replacing it with other technology or the client is bringing the function back in-house. As a service provider, we have to be proactive in offering clients new technology solutions. At the same time, we are looking to partner with other service bureaux to take on their COM volumes or provide new technology replacement such as CD or web ASP solutions As always, the name of the game is change.

“On-line, Near-line, And Off-line Data Preservation Through VITAL AccessWeb Image Archive”

Contact: Marc McQueen, Virtual Image Technology, 11632 Harrisburg Rd, P.O. Box 609, Ft. Mill, SC 29716-0609, USA Tel: 803 547 8888 Fax: 803 547 8690 Email: MEMcQueen@vimagetech.com or visit www.vimagetech.com

We will design and produce the artwork for your 1st advert in The Green Sheet absolutely

FREE OF CHARGE Contact Tim Nixon at

THE Document Imaging, Data Conversion, Data Preservation, Web Image Archive

GREEN SHEET

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on. (0)24 76 5 6 2 3 2 6

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The main reason for plotting aperture cards is to simplify their production from CAD generated drawings or from an electronic drawing/document management system. Aperture cards are, in the main, used by engineering companies for ease of duplication and distribution.

However, images (graphical data) reproduced onto silver halide film provide a s Wicks and Wilson Sales ft Marketing permanent record for long term Director, Ian McMinn . archiving that cannot be changed or modified, just some of the reasons why they are ^till used today.

(6 microns) to expose the film. The plotted resolution is user selectable between 100 - 400 dpi. When imaging a microfilm it is very important to achieve the correct densities on the film. Using older camera methods, light is reflected from the lines and the background and a balance has to be achieved between line density and background density. This problem is eliminated with an aperture card plotter as only the lines are exposed by the laser beam and the backgound receives no effective exposure at all, hence the image contrast is higher than from a camera.

The traditional method of making an aperture card was to plot the required drawing on a paper plotter and then film the drawing on a microfilm camera and process (develop) the film.

The resulting microfilm then had to be mounted onto a card and the card had to be indexed with Hollerith data to identify it.

With the introduction of the Aperture Card Plotter by Wicks and Wilson all this changed dramatically.

The last step in the process is to encode the card automatically with conventional Hollerith punch and print data as it leaves the film processing unit. At Wicks and Wilson they strongly believe that Hollerith is the only sensible encoding method.

The fact that it might be considered old fashioned, just like the aperture card itself, and has been around for a long time is the very reason and testament that they believe the humble aperture card will continue to be used for many decades to come.

An Aperture Card Plotter will faithfully reproduce the desired graphical data from a CAD system in either raster or vector format directly onto the unexposed film clip mounted in the aperture card, quickly and accurately, using a fine laser spot

For more information, to obtain sample cards or to arrange for a personal demonstration contact Wicks and Wilson on 01256 842211 or e-mair sales@wwl.co.uk or in the USA, Tameran 440-349 7100, sales@tameran.com

D

Once the imaging is comptete the aperture card is then automatically transported to the film processing (developing) unit. The combination of using conventional chemistry with silver halide film produces a “master card� that gives archival permanence.

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U.S. Roundup US Congress questions costly electronic archiving project but National Archives goes its merry way.

Later in the year (Oct. 3-6) ARMA International will hold its annual conference and exposition in Long Beach, California.

Details from www.arma.org

The US Senate’s Appropriations Committee voted to defer for one year the $US 35.9 million requested by the National Archives (NARA) for its electronic recordkeeping project and instead diverted the funds to rescue Amtrak, the national rail system. It’s a move that many view as a setback for the earchives project to create a digital warehouse for government documents, including e-mail and computer files, that can’t easily be converted for long-term storage.

The ARMA event will be followed Oct. 9-14 by the 14th annual congress of the International Federation of Health Records Organisations that will be held in conjunction with the 76th annual National Convention and Exhibition of AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) in Washington DC. Details from www.ahima.org/convention

During the year, the e-Archives funds are to be suspended while NARA addresses management problems raised in a report by the General Accounting Office (GAO), Congress’ financial watchdog agency. GAO’s report claimed NARA failed to follow electronic recordkeeping industry standards and “cannot adequately track the cost and schedule of the (electronic archiving) project”.

However, NARA, which has been promoting a digital agenda at all costs, doesn’t give up easily. Last month it filed a “Pre­ solicitation notice for the final electronic records archives system Request for ProposaT’(RFP). The solicitation seems to ignore concerns of experts inside and outside of government on costs and long-term accessibility of recorded information.

At a July hearing before the House of Representatives’ Government Reform Technology subcommittee, Linda Koontz, GAO’s director of information technology issues, said NARA had not yet developed a workable plan for eArchives. GAO requested cost justification for ongoing upgrades and migration that would be required over decades and centuries under the proposed e-Archives but NARA has not produced any such justification.

NARA has determined that the projected Electronic Records Archive will be digital only, utilising the XML family of formats. While NARA says it requires that any type of government record be accessible now and for the life of the document, the solicitation does not include any non-digital backup even though access is requested for centuries.

The issue will not be resolved quickly, as the members of Congress adjourn for a long year-end hiatus and return after the new year. Perhaps NARA’s intent through its pre­ solicitation is to soften the way for quick action then?

Mark Your Calendar.

PAGf 10

Sponsors of the 2004 Midwest States Conference are calling attention to the event, scheduled for Sept. 21-23 in Springfield, Illinois and hosted by the state of Illinois, where the annual conferences were born. Details will be on the Illinois State Archives web page by mid-year. At the moment speakers are being solicited.

Contact Sally Fritcher, Administrator, Illinois State Archives Services at sfritcher@ilos.net The first major US event in 2004 will be the AIIM Expo conference ft exposition, set for March 8-10, once again in New York’s Jacob Javits Convention Center. As in 2003, it will be held in conjunction with the On Demand digital printing and publishing conference and expo.

Details from www.aiimexpo.com

ACS expands Global capabilities.

ACS, the giant business process outsourcing firm headquartered in the US, opened a new services centre in Suva, Fiji. The centre will support ACS outsourcing services for retail and transportation industry clients in the Pacific Rim, as well as some US-based clients.

Currently, ACS has production facilities outside the US in Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Spain and India. ACS has more than 40,000 employees worldwide with 12,000 outside the US. “Our new operations in Fiji allow us to support an ever-growing list of clients in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Lynn Blodgett, Group President of ACS Commercial Solutions.

A close working relationship with major client Air New Zealand was a key reason for the move. ACS said that Air New Zealand always encouraged the company to consider Fiji as an operational location.

Air New Zealand said, “We are pleased that work for us that was previously done in Mexico is now being done in our local region, to the benefit of Fiji. We are pleased with the initial work being done and look forward to a great future working with them”.

Can Gartner still offer objective IT advice?

Gartner, the internationally-known consulting firm that provides top-level analyses of information technology (IT) trends and helps companies develop their own IT strategies and plans, in late October held a six-day strategy conference in Orlando Florida. Information Week magazine reported the 700 CIOs and thousands of other information technology professionals who attended the conference were surprised to learn that 38°/o of Gartner is now owned by dozens of major investing firms who invest in top technology businesses and by individual executives from such businesses. That was the result of a debt-to-stock conversion which went through in early October.

No one has suggested Gartner’s output has been - or will be tainted in any way by the indirect connection between the IT industry heavyweight indirect owners and the market advice that Gartner’s analysts and consultants offer. But many Gartner customers were surprised to learn of the connection and they wanted to know how the company will deal with it.

An Information Week survey, in 2001, found that nine out of 10 major companies surveyed use Gartner as an information source about information technology and trends.

Gartner CEO Michael Fleisher said customers don’t have to worry about Gartner’s objectivity. He told Information Week

“there’s no dialogue between board members and analysts...no reviewing of research by board members”.

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Most customers accept the statement at face value but they will be watching more closely, remembering the problems that arose in the US financial industry about the impartiality of brokerage firm analysts’ recommendations.

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Anacomp announced a new $US 22.5 million Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility with Fleet National Bank and Union Bank of California, two major “tier one” banks. The new credit line replaces a credit agreement which would have matured December 31, 2003. Jeff Cramer, Anacomp president and CEO, said some of the funds will be used to pay $US 4.8 million in revolving credit under the old agreement, to secure $US 6.2 million in standby letters of credit and to provide for ongoing working capital requirements. Cramer said Anacomp will invest in its docHarbor web business and its multi-vendor service business, two areas that have been growing.

Anacomp previously reported 3Q revenues of $US 49.8 million, operating income of $US 0.5 million, and a net loss of $US 0.6 million. The loss is a decline from a net profit of $700,000 in the same quarter a year earlier. The company said a major contributor was a 22°/o decline in COM revenues from 3Q 2002, as customers opt for digital solutions such as web and CD services or in-house solutions. Anacomp’s bright spot was the growth of its multi-vendor services business (services and hardware sales for products manufactured by other companies).

ImageMax squeezed ImageMax’s 3Q financial results showed revenues of $US 9.6 million, an operating loss of $11.6 million and a net loss of $11.9 million. The latter figures include the effect of write-off of goodwill. For the nine months, ImageMax reported $US 30.6 million in revenues but operating and net losses of $US 11.8 million and $12.8 million. As of November 24 the company’s common shares were trading at seven cents per share, close to its 52-week low of five cents.

In an SEC filing, CEO Mark Glassman said the company expects to improve 4Q revenues and generate positive operating cash flow, but doesn’t expect to be profitable. This is contingent on being able to meet its debt obligations and securing needed additional working capital. If these things do not happen ImageMax might have to consider bankruptcy or liquidation.

Lason income improves Lason’s third quarter results were its strongest since July 1, 2002 with net income of $US 1.0 million on revenues of $US 41.5 million. The net income is a 100% increase over the same quarter a year ago, although the net revenues were 18% less than in the year earlier period. The company said it looks forward to improved business, pointing to the fact it has closed sales this year with more than 40 new customers, especially in the healthcare and financial services markets.

SourceCorp reports 3Q results SourceCorp, a major outsourcing supplier in the US, reported 3Q revenues of $US 100.9 million and net income of $US 6.6 million. These are declines of 6.1% and 14.5%, respectively, from the same quarter a year earlier. The company claimed that this was due to strong project revenues in the 2002 quarter.

However, SourceCorp said it closed sales in the third quarter of 2003 that should produce revenues of $US 26.3 million in future years.

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Is your data going walkabout?

By Kevin Towers, Managing Director of PlumData Aren’t laptops fantastic? All of a sudden, you can work wherever, and whenever, you want - unconstrained by wires or modem cables or any of the paraphernalia traditionally associated with a PC, and you can even have access to every fde you would if you were stuck in the office. Without my laptop I would be lost.... ....and then I was! Or rather my laptop was. It was ridiculous really - I only stopped for a second on the platform at York Station to check my phone (another piece of technology I can’t live without) - and when I looked down, it was gone.

My heart sank. Not just because my Compaq Evo N800w is my newest toy, but because of all the information that was stored on it. Confidential facts and figures, every e-mail I’ve sent and received in the past 3 months and documents I’d been lovingly adding to for many an evening. Every single bit of it was on the hard drive of that laptop.

Anyway, incident reported, I boarded a slightly later train to London and twiddled my thumbs for 2 hours feeling bereft without my trusty technology partner, and wondering just how many other companies are making contingencies for protecting the data held on laptops, like we have at Plum. Of course your laptops will be insured to the hilt, but you still can’t insure the value of information.

PAGE 12

Maybe you also have ‘shuttle’ workers - those who use a desktop PC in the office, but gamely arm themselves with a laptop on the odd visit to client sites or when they need to work from home. All of a sudden, information is split over different devices and employees can’t be expected to be as scrupulous as they should be about backing up important files or making sure they have the latest versions at their fingertips.

data to be backed up every day, and so most organisations now just back up data which has changed since the last backup. This is known as an incremental back-up, and is essential for organisations which need to keep their backup window to a minimum. The data might be held on disk, or on tape, possibly on or off-site, and acts as a copy which can take you back to a certain point in time should you ever need to restore all or part of your systems. By the way, backups are the easy bit - it’s the time it takes most organisations to restore which is the painful bit. I would strongly recommend you run a planned disaster scenario so that should the worst happen, your policies and procedures are in place.

This new incremental backup technology, whereby your software actually recognises which is new information, and which it has already backed up on a previous occasion, has meant that now latops can be protected and files synchronised, with minimal user effort. By installing software (VERITAS NetBackup or VERITAS BackupExec are probably the market leaders at the moment) you can have disk-based backup protection from any location, and file sychronisation between desktops and laptops. If the user makes a change to a file when not connected to the network, the file is stored in a local cache and as soon as the user reconnects, these changes are immediately transferred to the file server or network share and backed up as normal. Like most software, this operates on a licence basis, and the more laptops you have, the cheaper it is.

According to technology research and analysis group IDC, as much as 60°/o of a company’s intellectual capital it outside the safety zone of a managed network server. Most data can be found only on local machines, and most often that data has no professional backup mechanism to protect it. That’s a terrifying statistic when you think how easily such crucial information could be lost - through malfunction, theft, natural disaster, or any number of scenarios. I know somebody who reversed over his laptop in his haste to catch an early morning flight - certainly made a change from the sound of gravel crunching under his tyres!

For users who are on the network, their changes are continuously protected. They don’t need to worry about missing a scheduled backup, which used to be a big problem when backups were just done once a day (or less frequently).

Another welcome addition is that your IT department can now protect the company from data loss without additional hardware, staff and expense.

So, just what can you do about keeping data held on laptops secure?

The Plum Group specialises in providing independent advice on all aspects of information storage and security and works with organisations such as The Corporation of London, Dow Jones, Freeserve, The Gadget Shop and Hull University as well as a wide variety of small and medium-sized businesses.

In the old days, when everyone was in the office with computer firmly bound to their desk, eager faces hidden behind huge monitors, your Network Administrator would have run regular backups which copied all the data held on your local machine to a central server. This was known as a full-system backup.

However, the sheer amount of data which a person now creates on a day to day basis has made it impractical for all

Mobile technology is an amazing thing, so should the worst happen - you turn round and your laptop’s gone - there are ways of making sure that your data won’t have disappeared too.

Contact: Kevin Towers, Plumdata, Adam House, Ripon Way, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG1 2AU Tel: +44 (0)870 752 4403 Fax: +44 (0)870 752 4 401 Email: Kevin.towers@plumdata.co.uk www.plumdata.co.uk

PAGf 13

I’ll take a bet that microfilm can’t do that!... ...Or can it?

By Lauri e Var endor f f ARMA The World Wide Web and its spider have us all connected and also rolled up in its silken threads, never to be released, and probably devoured by the monster spider!

I do not know about you, but I have been bitten by the spider and my day to day existence (in its current form) would be unthinkable without the virtues of the www (almost instant 1knowledge - if you are good at searching) and the unfortunate curse of its vices (those hundreds of crap spam messages 1 receive every day). I killed 891 spam emails that my software had spared me the effort and nauseousness of having to read and delete this morning and just six hours later I have another 54 caught by my spam software. Heaven forbid!

But I deviate from the point. Am in favour of, and a promoter of, the use of microfilm as a short, medium and long term storage media? You betcha!

Can microfilm compete with the instant recall that is provided by the www? Hell no! But it can take that data and grab it in a visual format today and hopefully onto digital microfdm sometime tomorrow or the day after, and maintain it without degradation for a hundred years or even longer.

Two web sites became known to me recently and I am impressed after having had a look at their offerings. The first is Project Gutenberg at http://promo.net/pg/ with 10,000 books on line and downloadable for the exorbitant fee of ZERO cost. NO charge! You may be forgiven in wondering how the publishers might survive, but do not fret, no books younger than pre - 1923 or 80 years old are on the list. No, commercialism is not dead, as current publications of today may not find their way onto this site until they are at least 100 years old and out of copyright, and maybe not even then, as the books are selected by volunteers as being worthy of their time to type in the book in its totality into a digital form, not a promising situation for a current technical journal such as

this publication (unless of course you are an imaging buff, either film or electronic based). What you will find are the classic books from the start of this century and previous centuries, from authors like Shakespeare, Poe, Dante, as well as well-loved favourites like the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Tarzan and Mars books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Alice’s adventures in Wonderland as told by Lewis Carroll, and thousands of others. Someone may care to offer to microfilm the Project Gutenberg digital holding of their 10,000 books, thus placing it onto the only long term media for the sake of posterity and the good of the community of the future? Take a moment and have a look at this gem of a web site and you may even download a book or two for your own pleasure.

The second web site is more current in its subject area and captures many Australian and other web sites on a daily basis, or when changes occur to their content. The web site is the Pandora Archive of the National Library of Australia and Partners at http://pandora.nla.gov.au/index.html. The Pandora Archive captures web sites as diverse as Agriculture, Health and Literature to Sports ft Recreation. I searched on microfilm and received 1,685 hits related to this search. I checked five of the hits at random and found each contained the term microfilm, not as its subject matter but indicating the item or www page located was also available from some source as microfilm (someone in Australia has been doing a good job capturing the content located at this site in microfilm format).

Whether this site itself is being microfilmed for the same good reasons that the content has been microfilmed I am unaware, but again a potential opportunity for an enterprising Microfilming Bureau.

The compliments of the season to all.

Laurie may ba contacted at LVarendorff@bigponf.com

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R O U N D (V A B O U T Cardiff TELEform gets clearance from DVA Cardiff Software Ltd., a leading global provider of document capture and eForm solutions for the enterprise, today announced that the Defence Vetting Agency (DVA) has selected Cardiff TELEform to automate over 140,000 security check and clearance forms a year. The solution will enable the DVA to improve the speed that it processes security clearance forms and reduce the costs associated with manual data entry.

Since 1997, the DVA has been involved in an ambitious modernisation programme that has seen the introduction of new vetting processes. Deploying proven information technology has been central to this modernisation. The DVA identified the need to improve the efficiency and throughput of their vetting forms while also embracing electronic forms.

R O U N D (V A B O U T are also available to alert Customer Service contacts in the event that documents are not downloaded within a pre-defined time. Documents may be delivered in PDF format to ensure content integrity, or in a form more appropriate for the delivery mechanism (HTML or SMS, for example).

For more information on iDel or other Hitec products Et services call 01753 583000 or alternatively, visit their website at www.hiteclabs.com New auto feed OMR from Kendata The new ES2800 optical mark reader (OMR), from Kendata Peripherals, scans information directly from forms into a computer at speeds of up to 2800 pages per hour, providing a level of accuracy and efficiency unattainable through conventional keyboard data entry.

DVA selected Cardiff TELEform due to Cardiff s track record in delivering cost savings and efficiency gains to a number of organisations similar to the DVA. TELEform’s ability to integrate with the DVA’s Warrantor II database tool was also key to the organisation’s decision. “Cardiff TELEform will enable us to reduce the costs associated with the processing of security vetting forms and speed turnaround times on these forms significantly,” said Michael Wilson, CEO at DVA. “TELEform’s ability to scale to the changing requirements of the business and overcome technical, security and confidentiality issues associated with electronic forms were key factors in our decision to purchase this solution.”

The DVA has identified 5 forms, ranging from 10 to 41 pages in length that will initially be automated. These paper forms will be scanned. Electronic copies of these forms will also be deployed on the DVA’s intranet and secure Internet. The data from these forms will be automatically verified by TELEform and committed to Warrantor II. Contact: Warren Daniels, Cardiff Ltd, 77a Boston Manor Rd, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 9JQ Tel: +44 (0)20 8326 1100 Fax: +44 (0)20 8326 1122 Email: WDaniels@Cardiff.com Hitec announce iDel - Intelligent Electronic Document Delivery Hitec Laboratories, a proven market leader engaged exclusively in the development, deployment and support of DataStore enterprise wide Electronic Document 8t Content Management (EDM) solutions, have expanded their product offering by announcing a new module - iDel. iDel is a new module which provides Intelligent Electronic Document Delivery (EDD, ESP, EBP) capability, dramatically reducing the cost of generating and delivering Customer facing documents. Tne new module improves DSO/debtor days, whilst leveraging existing IT infrastructure and technology investments.

Traditional print streams are received by iDel, securely archived, and then automatically split according to pre-defined document delivery requirements, such as print, fax, email, etc.

Customers requiring electronic document delivery are immediately notified by email that new documents such as Invoices, Statements and Contract Notes, are available for download from a secure website, eliminating the costs and delays associated with print and post.

Full audit reporting is provided to establish when documents were delivered. Escalation and exception reporting procedures

Productivity is further enhanced by the ES2800’s built-in 150sheet capacity automatic document feeder and a special output mechanism that allows forms to be sorted to different locations during the scanning process, according to operator-defined criteria.

Providing an ideal means of speeding up data collection in a wide variety of applications, the ES2800 is inherently accurate because it eliminates key entry errors, and this accuracy is further enhanced by continuous, automatic calibration of the read heads and by the use of adjustable mark sensitivity levels.

Designed for maximum ease of use, the new OMR incorporates features such as an LCD panel displaying the current status of a scanning job, built-in intelligence allowing automatic translation of mark information into data compatible with application programmes, and the ability to store and recall form definitions, even when the unit has been switched off and on again.

The ES2800 can read form sizes from 5.7 x 15.2cm to 21.6 x 35.6cm, printed on paper ranging in weight from 90 to 148gsm.

The unit itself has overall dimensions of 79 x 36 x 15cm and weighs 7.7kg. Optional facilities include twin read heads to enable the OMR to read double-sided forms in a single pass, a built-in printing text or serial numbers on forms for easy identification, a bar code read head, and menu-driven utility software allowing the user to create form definitions.

For further information, visit www.kendata.com.

FAME on a daily basis FAME, the database of UK and Irish company information, will now be updated daily. FAME, which is co-published by Bureau

R O U N D (V A B O U T

The information that relates to winding up petitions, creditors meetings and administration orders is sourced from the London and Edinburgh Gazettes. This will now be both collected and updated on a daily basis. A daily feed from Companies House, plus quoted companies’ hard copy accounts when published prior to official filing dates, provide the basis for the financials.

This, and the complementary information, will also be updated daily, reducing waiting times for the latest figures and changes ^in companies’ particulars.

Swiss Post has aw arded TiS a m u lti-m illio n -d o llar contract This is one of the largest contracts ever signed by Top Image Systems Top Image Systems (TiS), Ltd., a leading innovator of intelligent document recognition, announced recently that it has signed an agreement with Swiss Post to provide a data-capture solution to process critical business information.

TiS provides automated data capture solutions that improve enterprise business processes by integrating data from multiple sources and of different types, such as invoices, freight and shipping bills, purchase orders and others. TiS solutions seamlessly deliver the extracted data to enterprise applications such as document and content management, ERP or CRM.

Both internet and DVD users of FAME will have access to the latest data feeds; DVD users can switch their access option between the DVD and the FAME server in Brussels, depending on how time critical their research is.

After an extensive evaluation process, during which several leading companies in the data capture market were examined, Swiss Post has decided to base its next-generation data capture solution on TiS’ eFLOW platform.

“FAME incorporates alert software so users can be notified as soon as there are changes in the companies they are monitoring - with daily updates this function is even more beneficial,” said Tony Pringle, manager of BvD’s UK office and product specialist for its UK products. Geoff Wilcock, director of information services at Jordans added, “Our fundamental goal is to get the data from the public file and then onto FAME as quickly and as accurately as possible, correctly linked to all the supplementary data. Now the vast majority of this data will be available online less than 24 hours after we receive it. And we are still able to subject the data to the same variety of quality control tests.”

Top Image Systems is a leading innovator of enterprise solutions for managing and validating content entering organizations. Whether originating from mobile, electronic, paper or other sources, TiS solutions deliver the content to applications that drive the organization. TiS’ eFLOW Unified Content Platform is a common platform for the company’s solutions. TiS markets its platform in more than 30 countries through a multi-tier network of distributors, system integrators and value added resellers, as well as strategic partners.

For more information on TiS, visit the company’s web site at: www.ToplmageSystems.com.

Both versions of FAME are available on free trial by calling 020 7549 5049 or e-mailing london@bvdep.com

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PAGE 15

van Dijk (BvD), a leading electronic publisher of business information, and Jordans, the UK’s premier provider of corporate professional services, is available on both the internet and DVD-ROM. It contains detailed accounts for 1.6 million companies with summaries for a further 1.1 million companies.

Supplementary data includes news, market research, brands, activities, directors and company structures.

R O U N D <V A B O U T

Democracy in Action How Australia’s Victoria State uses OMR to get voters to the polling booth Democracy works on a simple premise - one man, one vote, and works best when each citizen exercises his/her right to vote. But getting people to vote is difficult as witnessed by the low voter turnout for such important elections as the 2000 US Presidential election, where 49°/o voted. Australia is one of eight countries in the world who have addressed this problem by making voting not a right or a privilege, but a compulsory obligation.

Compulsory voting was introduced at the Australian federal level in 1924, and the State of Victoria introduced it for their lower house elections in 1926, and for the upper house in 1935.

Victoria uses a system of preferential voting in its elections.

Voters must mark their ballots with an order of preference for each candidate and the candidate who gains 50% plus 1 of the votes is elected (if no candidate achieves over 50% of the first preference votes, the preferences are distributed until one candidate gains an absolute majority). Although each enrolled (everyone over the age of 18 who is an Australian citizen with a Victorian address has to enroll) citizen has to vote, they do have the option of casting an ‘informal vote’ ie one that does not conform to the rules for preferential voting by, for example, having no marks against a candidate’s name, or marking each candidate a ‘O’. At the last election, 3.4% of votes cast were ‘informal’.

Compulsory voting ensures a large turnout for elections - 93.2 % at Victoria’s 2002 State election. However, as enrolled voters who fail to vote are subject to a fine of AS$50, it puts a greater emphasis on the accurate marking of the electoral rolls for voter participation.

There are approximately 3.2 million voters on the Victorian State electoral roll. Prior to an election the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) prints out and delivers to each of the 1,600 voting centres, the ‘scannable roll’. The roll has the names and addresses of each voter entitled to vote within the designated district. The roll is printed double-sided, with two columns per page, each column with a maximum of 100 names, giving a maximum of 200 names and addresses per side, 400 per sheet.

There is one roll, containing approximately 90 pages and 37,000 voters, for each of the 88 districts in the State; but each district is supplied with multiple copies of the roll to be used in the separate voting centres. There are a total of 6,500 rolls used in the whole State, which means about 600,000 A-4 printed pages.

PAGE 16

Beside each name on the roll page are two clock marks, and the voting centre officials are expected to place a straight mark between these to indicate that the individual has voted. The officials are requested to use a sharpened pencil and a small ruler to draw the line.

The VEC has been scanning the rolls for a number of years, using a roll scanning solution specific to this task. The software was old MS-DOS based and the development company had halted support. Additionally, the roll scanning machines were old, slow, unreliable and could only be used to process the scannable rolls.

It came time to replace the machines and the VEC decided that it would be more cost effective to replace them with equipment that could be used for a number of other scanning requirements within the VEC, in addition to the scanning of the rolls.

Solution After putting the requirements out to tender, the VEC selected a solution using Inotec’s SCAMAX scanners, SCE’s TwinScan software (SCE is an integrator of Dunord’s TwinStream

technology), and Dunord’s OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) software for the scannable rolls.

The new equipment helped the VEC resolve a time-crunch problem that arose with the last State election held in November 2002. The VEC wanted to issue the ‘Failure to Vote’ notices prior to a major round of municipal council elections conducted in March 2003, to avoid voter confusion with correspondence from the VEC regarding a State election and council elections. To meet this requirement, all scanning of the rolls had to be completed in 5 weeks over the December 2002-Januaiy 2003 time period.

Under the old system, the scanning process would have taken months.

The scanning of the marks is part of a larger process for the checking and accounting of the marks against the ballots issued, to ensure a true and fair election. It also identifies, by the lack of marks, those to whom a ‘Failure to Vote’ notice must be mailed.

Using 4 SCAMAX scanners, operating approximately 10 hours per day, and the TwinStream software, the approximately 600.000 pages were scanned in 2.5 weeks. The scanned pages were parsed by Dunord’s OMR software to determine the marks on each page, providing a file of the page number and position of the mark, which was cross-referenced to the master database to determine the actual voter. Approximately 2.4 million marks were captured from about 200,000,000 possible positions. Some voters forwarded mail-in ballots which, of course, were not recorded via the scannable rolls at the poll booths.

Technical problems Although clear instructions are given as to how the marks are to be made, these were not always followed. Pencils quickly become blunted, rulers are misplaced, so not all the marks are exactly between the clock marks, some lines are wavy or incomplete. There is movement of the data on the printed page, caused by the pages being printed on different laser printers and scanned by different scanners. Printers and scanners are not “ideally” linear in respect to one another which can cause problems for high speed OMR reading. Another problem was that the markable areas are extremely close to one another because of the density of names and addresses per page, and the documents are black print on white paper, so there is no ability to drop-out colours to make the required items more legible.

Simon Hancock, VEC’s IT Manager, said, “Dunord resolved all the issues almost immediately and provided some of the best technical support I have seen from an IT supplier. Sometimes the marks found on the scannable roll didn’t match the number of ballot papers issued. This required a check of the marks found by the Dunord OMR software against the actual roll. In almost every situation this resulted in the scanning solution being more accurate than the audit process used.”

Results The VEC did the OMR’ing in concert with the scanning, and the whole operation was completed in under three weeks over a hectic time (December/January is mid-summer ‘down-under’ and a major holiday period). They were able to mail approximately 150.000 ‘Failure to Vote’ notices well in advance of the March council elections, giving Victoria’s non-voters ample time to respond with a valid (as defined by legislation) excuse or pay the fine - and time to consider how to handle their democratic responsibilities for the March council elections.

PAGE 17

scaN to i c r text o f HaNDWRitteN i 7tH ceNtURy maRyLaND 9uakeR aRCHives

By Heilman Chica, President Penny Imaging Exchange Inc. Ernest Troth, an avocational early American historian, contacted Penny Imaging Exchange and asked whether we could scan microfilm to digitise a set of 17th century colonial Maryland Quaker documents he had acquired. The documents were bound journals with handwritten accounts of the monthly meeting minutes of Quaker groups along the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maiyland. Over the course of several e-mail and phone discussions, we determined that his objective was not only scanning, but the use of handwriting recognition ICR technology to make the documents searchable 1 using commonly available word processing. His family arrived from England in the late 1660s, and his basic goal was to make the information buried in microfilm more available to historians. For example, the daily communal actions taken to provide for fellow Quakers are recorded, such as a note from 1682 in which “John Keeld was given a cow, he being a poor man and having a charge of children.”

At the time of the American Revolution, the monthly minutes record numerous accounts of Quakers who were required to pay fines for avoiding military service, among them Howell Powel in 1777 who “produced an account of one cow and a calf valued at 5 British pounds for a demand for refusing to serve in the American militia." A similar bovine fine was levied against John Register in 1776 for “refusing to bear arms or train in the militia.” By contrast, those Quakers who took up arms against the British Crown were disowned. It’s not that the Quakers suppored the King; they opposed war.

If his self-funded project were completely successful, Mr. Throth planned to make the text available to a local historical society along with the images.

more suitable handwriting recognition programme using human intervention, either already exists or will arise within a relatively short period of time. Once the programme is available, it will be easier to run the documents through the new ICR programme and correct the output as needed. In his words, “It’s just data," and while handwriting styles vary over time, colonial orthography was “just another font,” no better or worse than handwriting today—just different.

As of this printing we will have delivered all the historical JPEG images from 1676-1771. While they are not yet full text indexed, they are more readily accessible using imaging technology.

Readers with suggestions on resolving the handwriting recognition challenge are invited to contact the author at outsourcing@pennieimaging.com or www.pennieimaging.com

Microfilm ScanPro 200 Digital Reader Printer

Test scans of the documents, some of which were nearly 350 years old when they had been microfilmed, proved successful, as shown below. Wicks and Wilson equipment was tested, as well as digital imaging technology. In both cases the images were far better than we had expected. After further testing, we determined that grayscale images produced the best preservation quality images. Capturing, not only the text, but also the fine details of the bound books. Faded pages, were greatly enhanced by grayscale digital technology.

Overall, the document quality was quite good, showing that the microfilming had been undertaken with some considerable care and expertise by the Maryland State Archives years in the past.

However, testing bitonal versions of the images using some of the best available handwriting recognition software failed to produce more than gibberish. Unfortunately, the recognition rate was not sufficient to produce even an index of key terms or names. The differences between modem and colonial handwriting were too great for the programme to function as hoped.

We then explored manual data entry, using some of our offshore vendors. It was do-able, but cost prohibitive, since the project was self-funded. Still, our client recognises that advances in digital technology occur frequently, and that a

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Training in Preservation Microfilm ing The National Library of Australia launched its new training materials 'Training in Preservation Microfilming' in mid October 2003.

The National Library of Australia, in collaboration with the State Library of South Australia and under the auspices of IFLA PAC, has produced a set of preservation microfilming training material consisting of 10 modules, 6 wall charts, a logbook, a learning guide, a glossary/index and a small kit of practical training aids. The training material, “Training in Preservation Microfilming”, is the result of an IFLA PAC survey on microfilming training needs in the South East Asia and Pacific region conducted in 2001.

The National Library of Australia is distributing “Training in Preservation Microfilming” to National Libraries and Archives in the region, including those institutions and individuals who responded to the IFLA-PAC survey. The content of “Training in Preservation Microfilming" will continue to be available from the Library’s website. However, the practical training aids are only available in limited quantities and the library hopes that you can make “Training in Preservation Microfilming” and the practical training aids available to those institutions and individuals in your region that may require it. A distribution list of institutions that hold the material will be available on the National Library’s website.

“Training in Preservation Microfilming” was written by Heather Brown, Preservation Manager at the State Library of South Australia. It conforms to the accredited Australian preservation microfilming curriculum, and when delivered by an accredited agency, may be used for formal qualifications or

CC DATA LAUNCHES E-MARC-PLUS All-in-one-box email archiving and records management system can be installed and ready to go in minutes CC Data, a leading provider of document management solutions, is introducing e-MARC-PLUS, a packaged hardware and software solution for automating email archiving and records management.

“Email archiving is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a mandatory requirement for many organisations,” said Jon Helfet, CC Data’s managing director. “This is an ideal all-in-one-box solution for those organisations, as well as for resellers and systems integrators seeking to solve customers’ email archiving and records management problems. The solution provides immediate return on investment, can be implemented and ready to go in minutes, and won’t impact on existing email and other corporate systems.”

The e-MARC-PLUS system includes: ★ a midi-tower server pre-loaded with software and pre­ configured ★ e-MARC software for email archiving ★ windream software for records management ★ Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and SQL Server ★ RAID storage ★ network connectivity.

Standard user access to the system is via a Web browser, or optionally through a plug-in to Microsoft Outlook. Other options include WORM tape archiving and a fully-functional document management system for all types of files.

For more information contact CC Data Ltd on + 44 (0)1582 761400, email info@ccdata.co.uk, or visit www.ccdata.co.uk

to recognise current competencies. The resource could also be used as a guide to microfilming basics for those not wishing to undertake formal training.

“Training in Preservation Microfilming" was primarily developed for use in the Asia Pacific region and is in English.

It is available in several formats, including PDF and CD. For more detail visit, <www.nla.gov.au/preserve/trainmat.html>.

There are a limited number of additional printed copies available and priority will be given to those individuals and organisations with no or unreliable access to the internet.

Please contact Marian Hanley at the address below with the details of your situation so that copies can be reserved or for further information about the training material.

Contact: Marian Hanley, Project OJfieer, Preservation Services, National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia.

E-mail: mhanley@nla.gov.au Tel: +61 2 6262 1780 Fax: +61 2 6262 1653

DATA HARMONY INCREASES FLOW AT AWWA The American Water Works Association (AWWA), largest organisation of water supply professionals in the world, is citing productivity gains of 50°/o or more in its content management processing with Data Harmony’s XML Intranet System (XIS) software.

Kurt Keeley, database manager in the Technical Support Group at AWWA’s Denver, Colorado headquarters, claims that since installing the Data Harmony suite, “We’re still experiencing improved productivity and flexibility to handle new projects unheard of just 2 years ago. Data Harmony is allowing us the opportunity to move relatively seamlessly in step with the organisation’s new content management systems.”

Citing AWWA’s challenges, Keeley said their move from another relational database to the XML Intranet System (XIS) was accomplished “painlessly, and cost effectively, without losing data, while positioning our data in a format exportable to multiple formats and projects.” He added that “safeguarding the data in XML allows for increased productivity and flexibility.”

With more than 50,000 members, AWWA promotes public health and welfare relative to drinking water and is proactive in advancing the technology, science, management and government policies regarding the stewardship of water, its quality and sufficiency of supply. In support of that mission, AWWA uses Data Harmony’s Machine Aided Indexer (MAI) to speed publication of its WATERNET database on CD-ROM. Says Keeley, “Our staffing was going down, the work load was increasing, and we needed more efficient ways to store and move data without major staff intervention. I estimate that MAI has improved our productivity by 50°/o.” AWWA employs editors both at the headquarters office and remotely. “MAI helps us avoid (Editorial drift, the system is accessible by remote staff, and it’s customisable as well,” Keeley notes. “We have adapted to link records with urls and pdfs and to include multiple media types.

XIS was an excellent investment for us, reliable, scalable and ahead of its time for internal data storage and management,” Keeley says.

WATERNET is the most comprehensive bibliographic database on the water industry available, with access to more than 50,000 references to journal articles, books, conference proceedings, government reports and technical papers from internationally recognised publishers around the world. A subset on desalinisation issues is under development. To learn more, visit their website at www.awwa.org.

A SOLID SUCCESS

Strong programme draws good, diverse turnout; e-mail management and compliance regulations are hot document management topics

PAGE 19

SCEF San Francisco The venue was San Francisco. The occasion was the 28th annual AIIM Service Company Executives Forum (SCEF). A consensus of attendees was that it was one of the best such events in recent years. A cosmoplitan location and strong programme, geared to service company needs, drew approximately 130 registrants from the US and overseas. In addition to organisations from 30 US states, the forum drew attendees from Argentina, Canada, Germany and India.

The management insights track covered “HIPAA and the Internet: Strategic Business Opportunities”, “The Changing Marketplace in Healthcare”, “Leveraging Human Resources Performance with Job/Cost Management”, “Commodity Pricing or Value Selling for Conversion Services”, “Can You Live Without a CFO?”, “Sales Opportunities in Forms Processing”, “The Changing Role of the Sales Professional” and “Commodity vs. Value Added Selling".

The meeting has evolved from being a strictly hands-on “how to...” affair to a management conference for executives looking for information and ideas on managing multi­ application customers and projects, as well as leads to new applications that are logical for imaging bureaux.

Opportunities for US bureaux arising out of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation (corporate financial responsibility) and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) were hot topics as was e-mail management. These subjects were woven into many discussions because all involve “documents”.

The all-forum closing shoot-out was a battle of two Bob Williams. Consultant Bob Williams (Cohasset Associates) took the position that the modern records manager should report to the legal counsel because of all the new compliance regulations. Pratt ft Whitney’s Bob Williams held that the records manager should report to the chief information officer rather than the legal officer. He saw the RM’s role evolving into that of being the go-to person who must interpret the new regulations and advise corporate executives on policy, procedures and potential liabilities with the legal officer having the final say only on the last phase. It was a mild “shoot-out” with no wounded and no clear winner.

Just as the content of the event has changed, the composition of the audience has evolved from being almost exclusively service bureau personnel to an audience that also encompasses vendors, exhibitors and others involved with service bureau subjects. The result is a much broader perspective. This was particularly evident in panel discussions which brought out the fact that some imaging service bureaux are getting into the business of managing back office operations for clients.

A wide variety of sessions The two-day event featured 15 sessions - formal presentations and roundtable discussions - in three tracks (management insights for owners and executive management; sales and marketing opportunities; production and technical challenges), two all-forum keynote addresses, and an SCEF closing “shoot-out” panel. In addition, a 1-1/2 day Technology ft Solutions Showcase put on by 19 vendors drew visitors from SCEF audience.

Throughout the forum speakers expressed the need for service companies who can address the issues that corporate America is facing, with compliance regulation and e-mail management. Compliance discussions were standard fare during coffee breaks and presentations.

One keynote speaker, Randolph Kahn, founder of Kahn Consulting and co-author of “E-mail Rules”, noted e-mail has become fumiamental to the way in which a majority of corporations and government agencies do business. Thus the ways in which they use, retain and manage e-mails are coming under greater scrutiny. Yet many companies have inadequate policies and practices for such responsibility. The other keynote speaker, John Mancini, president AIIM International, addressed using ECM (Enterprise Content Management) strategies for success. He discussed key business drivers for expanding ECM technologies, the status of e-mail management practices, and the status of user information and records management programmes as they relate to enterprisewide compliance.

FblA Meets at SCEF Several members of the executive committee of the Filmbased Imaging Association (FblA) met with John Mancini, AIIM International president, during the Service Company Executives Forum concerning the future organisation and direction of the group, including possible reabsorbtion into AIIM. The formalities of reorganisation are being undertaken and an action plan created. A newly-reconstituted FbLA board will meet in January to review the group’s articles of incorporation and bylaws prior to any formal proposed move back into AIIM. In the interim, Mike Oris, former senior VP-marketing, Ascendant Solutions, and previously VP-marketing, Fujifilm USA, was hired as FblA’s operating director. His first objectives are to clean up membership (get renewals and solicit new memberships), seek affiliations with other associations and organise participation by FblA at trade shows, and draft a communications programme for the group.

At the same time he will lay out a long-term plan for FblA. Oris was retained on a six-month renewable term, subject to mutual agreement. FbLA members lauded the appointment.

Next Year: SCEF in Florida The 2004 Service Company Executive Forum will be held at Amelia Island, a resort off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, during the second week in November. This will mark a return to the routine of warm weather locales for the annual event.

Prior to the 2003 forum, in recent years SCEF had rotated meeting sites among Florida, California and Arizona. While most attendees praised the recent event, many also look forward to a sunnier November climate that allows pre- and post-meeting golf and tennis tournaments and a sometimes quick winter vacation.

They loved San Francisco but not the chilly, rainy weather encountered this year.

G r a y s c a l e L a s e r P lo ttin g on M ic ro film fo r th e lo n g -te rm s t o r a g e of d ata A vital issue that needs addressing at the time of implementing any new digital document management system is the question of risk management with regard to the long-term archiving of your company’s vital engineering drawings and associated documentation.

These documents need to be preserved. For legal or business reasons. For research. For history, or for the future.

This information is going to be stored on a CAD system or an EDM solution for ready accessibility and ease of distribution, but not for long term storage. Archiving should not be confused with data back up.

A number of issues need to be looked at when implementing a digital system: Digital storage media - what do you really have any idea how long it will last, without corruption or decay?

What guarantees are given by the manufacturer as to how long it will last?

What certainty is there in a “lifetime guarantee” - how long is a lifetime?

In this area we are all driven by impression rather than by fact. Even the media manufacturers admit that digitally stored data can quickly corrupt. Recently, a German computer magazine reportedly identified that, due to poor quality materials used in the sealing layer, DVDs were suffering corrosion within 4 to 6 months.

Technology - we are in a world of ever accelerating changes in storage media, operating systems, application systems and file formats; can you be certain that the data you store today will be even accessible in 10, 20, or 30 years time, never mind the 50 years required by some industries?

Can you guarantee tomorrow’s version will open yesterday’s files?

Think of all the media formats used in the past 15 years that you can no longer access, such as the 8-inch floppy and the 12-inch optical disk.

Data transfer - what guarantees will you get from a vendor who suggests that, as your systems are upgraded, you simply migrate all your legacy data across? Can you even quantify the costs of continual data migration?

There are no industry standards yet - so what percentage of data will be guaranteed free from loss or corruption? 80°/o?

90°/o? Or even 95°/o?

Could your company survive with the possible loss of 5°/o of your documentation?

Legalities - although digital information is now admissible as evidence in a court of law, the weight of that evidence is still to be determined by the judge - who is after all a technical layman - who is liable to be swayed by arguments as to the instability of a computer file.

Were you to be involved in either a product liability or design dispute, can you be certain that no factors

whatsoever could cast doubt on the integrity of your submissions if they were in digital format?

Disaster recovery and business continuity - ever had a power failure? A server or network failure? A lightning strike or flood?

Could it ever happen to you?

These are more commonplace than you might like to believe, and there is specialist (though costly) insurance readily available, but for how many days or weeks could you manage until the new systems were installed?

DSS UK and Microbox have the solution: Microbox have created the POLYCOM Micro Printer.

It is a network microfdm printer, which has been developed especially for the long-term storage of data. The life expectancy of this microfilm is approx. 1000 years.

Microbox Polycom - High Level Data Protection Once configured, the Microbox POLYCOM automatically retrieves all digital files from the input directory and converts them to exposed microfilm images. Through an output on age-resistant Laser-tape, either positive or negative film can be processed, so your technical or engineering drawings and associated documents will be protected permanently against viruses and destruction.

Automatic Indexing When the film is imaged, the pre­ compiled index is written in OCR text at the beginning and end of each film, or section within the film. Each individual frame is bar-coded to link it with the index. If the data is later re-digitised, all images complete with the index file are re-generated.

Space Saving Microbox POLYCOM stores up to 650 AO drawings or up to 38,000 A4 documents at 200 dpi on one 30-metre ^film cassette.

Please visit DSS UK Ltd on www.dssuk.co.uk/dms/polycom.html

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Success story for Anixter Center

By Bob Dolgan, Public Relations Specialist, Anixter Center

“We see the ability in everyone."

Anixter Center’s Imaging Service has enjoyed much fiscal success in recent years. As one of the largest document imaging and CD-ROM service bureaux in the Chicago area, it generated more than $422,000 in Fiscal Year 2003 while maintaining customers like the State of Tennessee, University of Illinois and several major corporations. One factor makes this story unusual: Almost the entire staff in Imaging is made up of people with disabilities. i The business provides jobs for up to 30 people with disabilities while offering high-quality products and services to its customers. For the past 20 years, people with disabilities have been gaining vocational training and wages through Imaging while engaging in technical tasks like shooting images through a planetary camera and converting paper files to CDROM. “Nobody gives us business because they like us,” Anixter Center President and CEO Stuart G. Ferst says. “They give us business because they like the service we provide. They have customers, too. We pride ourselves on doing high-quality work.”

Chicago, provides jobs fo r up to 30 people with disabilities. Mercedes (pictured) is a typical c a m p le, both happy and confident.

Anixter Center is one of the largest nonprofit social service agencies in the Chicago area, serving 4,000 people annually through 70 programmes at 35 locations. Its mission is to assist people with disabilities to live and work s u c c e s s f u lly

community

in

people take pride when they reach their goal. It’s great positive reinforcement.”

With increasing revenue, Anixter Center’s businesses can employ more people with disabilities. That helps alleviate the state’s financial burden as individuals gain paid work opportunities without relying on tax dollars - especially pertinent with many states facing their biggest budget shortfalls in recent memory.

Workers in Imaging also have access to a host of support services from Anixter Center - everything from career counseling and legal assistance to health and educational training. Vera Baker is studying for the General Equivalency Diploma test through Anixter Center’s Literacy programme, located one floor above where she works in Imaging.

Ultimately, the blend of social services and business acumen is Anixter Center’s hallmark. That combination keeps sales brisk and people with disabilities employed.

“We don’t tolerate nonperformance,” Pennacchio says. “Yes, we are a major rehabilitation agency. But in here, this is a business. That’s the beauty of this place, its uniqueness.”

Visit www.anixterimaging.com. or contact: Bob Dolgan, Anixter Center, 6610 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60626-4062 Tel: (773) 973-7900, ext. 228

th e

Anixter

Center’s businesses include Imaging, Packaging and Janitorial.

All are self-sustaining and compete against for-profit businesses for contracts. Christopher Math, director of sales for Imaging and Packaging, says Anixter Center’s flexibility allows for more contracts - and returning customers - than that of for-profit businesses.

“We are more flexible than most companies,” he says. “We take small jobs - we have a $100 minimum. Most other businesses’ minimums are higher than that. Fifty percent of our business is small, one-time jobs. The fact that we are going to do it in a day is going to bring back customers.”

Imaging workers are held to high standards of accountability.

That ensures they reach their potential while maximising quality for customers. The Imaging Service follows a forprofit business model as Math bids for contracts and Director of Industrial Services, A1 Pennacchio, oversees the day-to-day operations.

“We’ve made our workers more involved and accountable for the product,” Pennacchio says. “We have a lot more one-toone supervision. We have to help them reach these goals.

They’re being told what their percent rate is each pay period.

We constantly talk about the rate. It starts with anxiety, but

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R E A D E R S LETTERS

R E A D E R S LETTERS

Dear Editor,

In fact, I believe downstairs they purchased a microfilm SCANNER to digitise the microfilm. And here is an article saying they’re microfilming the digital records.

My husband received his Jan 2004 issue of Popular Mechanics in the mail yesterday and showed me “something about archives” he found on page 22.

Shelly Henley Kelly, C.A.

Has anyone else seen or heard of this?

(Shelley is the University Archivist at the University o f Houston-Clear Lake, Neumann Library, Houston, Texas and may be contacted at <kellysh@cl.uh.edu>)

“Microfilm Defeats Digital Cheats Fears over the ease with which hackers can tap into computer files and change critical financial or legal information have revived what many believed was a dying technology: microfilm. The Kodak Reference Archive System automatically converts digital files, such as word processing documents and spreadsheets, into a microfilm strip that cannot be altered.

There follows a comment from Russ Burkell who kindly forwarded the above letter to me.

One would think by now, all users would realise that digital technology has been the best development in history for crooks. Unfortunately, what should be obvious to everyone in our business, is not. It’s amazing that “digital” can have this brainwashing effect year after year.

When the records need to be reviewed, file-management software reads the analogue microfilm and converts it into a form that can be read, but not altered, by the original programme. By merging the analogue and digital realms, the new technology makes it possible for archivists to access more records faster. Saving old files using microfilm also eliminates the problem of files becoming obsolete when the software used to create them becomes obsolete.”

It is sad indeed that “revelations” like this have to come from a magazine article rather than from the many organisations dedicated to preservation of the written word.

When NARA, the keeper of the nations legacy, not only doesn’t get it, but actually is in the process of abandoning traditional media and converting this country to a so called “400 year digital archive”, why should anyone expect other archivists not to follow their lead.

I have to laugh because here in the Library they have just made the decision not to renew microfilm serials subscriptions in favour of the digital format.

Russ

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New, Used, Refurbished Micrographic & Electronic Equipment Parts for all major brands Lamp Sale

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Fiche and A perture Cards.

256 shades of gray for preservation quality pictures.

Great for faded film!

High volume Aperture Card, Film and Fiche capacity.

Wholesale Pricing.

Penny Imaging Exchange Inc www.oennieimaaina.com (631)244-1489

BH 3338-6338.......... $55 BH 8000 series......... $45 Kodak Desktop...........$90 Kodak IL30, 70. 900, 923, 990, 9500, 9520......... $28!

Im aging S y stem s, Inc.

(608) 276-5559 Email: ken@imagingsystems.net Online: www.imagingsystems.net www.stores.ebay.com/imagingsystemsinc

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READY

?m

A NEW DIRECTION?

The colour-duplex departmental scanner that adds value to centralised and decentralised document management systems—The brand new KODAK i8 0 Scanner.

• • • • •

Functionality Innovation Speed R eliability Excellence

The KODAK i80 Scanner meets all your demands: Up to 35 pages per minute Up to 1,500 pages per day De-skew* and cropping* ADF and Flatbed Switchable document background Up to 600 dpi optical and up to 1,200 dpi output resolution Quiet operation ... and it's fun to work with!

For details, contact your Authorised Reseller of KODAK Document Imaging products, visit www.kodak.com/go/docimaging, e-mail us at gb-scanners@kodak.com, or call us at 01442-844791. * available through the bundled KODAK Capture Software, Lite.

7300

i9600 Series W rite rs i800 Series Colour Scanners 3590C & 4500

3500 i200 Series Scanners Capture i50 & i60 Scanners

INNOVATION

YOU

i80 S c a n n e r

CAN

Scanner 1500

COUNT

ON™

&

3520