Computer Output Microfilms

9} Computer Output Microfilms:

Computer Output Microfilm is the product of copying information from electronic media and stored data directly to the microfilms or microfiche. The first patent for microphotography in 1839 by John Benjamin Dancer.  It is also says like this COM were used to take print image output from the computer either online or via tape or disk and create a film image of each page. The leading vender of COM machines was ANACOMP Inc. (www.anacomp.com) which provides services and refurbished units.

Firstly they were used for document and newspaper archival but after the advent of computer microfilms are more popular use for non-library use such as strong catalogs and patient records. Today most of the organization who need to store payroll, accounting, insurance, or employ data. Yet because most of the organization have outputted the computer output microfilm to microfiche, the have to manually search the record and use a reader printer to save output a particular file.

COM technology offers superior image quality at a cost that is comparable to that of paper printing. If their per-sheet cost of printing a black-and-white document on standard-sized paper from a centralized printer is 3 cents, the same document could be produced on COM microfiche for 0.003 cents per sheet. These figures do not include the additional cost reduction from savings on storage space.

Types of COM

1)    Computer Output Microfilm: It containing data, which is created by a recorder from computer generated electrical signals.

2)    Computer Output Microfilmer:  It is the recorder which converts data form a computer into language and records into microfilm.

3)    Computer Output Microfilming: It is a method of converting data from a computer into language onto microfilm.

The main advantage of microfilm is its storage capacity. The Indiana Commission on Public Records states that a single microfiche card can hold 230 images, and a 1-cubic-foot storage box, containing 6,000 cards, can hold 1,380,000 images. The commission concluded that if each of these images were to be printed on a single sheet of paper, their storage would require 460 boxes, as each would only hold 3,000 pages.

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