In 1992, president C. Lee Jones of the Micrographic Preservation Service spoke to the future of preservation and access. “We have a vision that may or may not come true, but we believe it possible within the next five years, and that would be a workstation either in a library or microfilm room, or at an individual scholar’s workstation, where a 35mm reel of film might be viewed by the scholar, selected portions scanned directly at the station and loaded onto a hard disc for future use.”
The sound of the preservation unit’s bulbs blinking and camera shutters persist today, more than three decades later. Vignettes from 9 South Commerce Way’s past, of the “Preservation Services Center,” were recovered from storage by James Wolff, Operations Manager for Digitization, and Tom Matteo, Shipping & Receiving Technician for Microfilm Services (and video enthusiast). The recovered VHS tape was digitized by Tom with his home setup, bringing these images of our company history back to life. While the differences between operations in 1992 and 2025 are interesting to note, far more incredible are the principles and workflows that have remained the same due to their enduring effectiveness.
Enduring Principles
From 1992 to 2025, the original Bethlehem, PA preservation facility has undergone several upgrades – but, the passage of time is perhaps most easily visualized by how tall our trees have grown!
“[Microfilm] guidelines have not changed and that has allowed us to continue to streamline and fine-tune all workflows that have proven successful over the decades,” says Joe Konrath who, today, is the Vice President of Microfilm Services, and who was once a Supervisor on the MAPS team. His knowledge and experience with microforms as well as his passion for its history and future as preservation medium continue to lead Backstage’s pursuit of full-service microfilming services, from collation, to capture, to storage.
To start, environmental conditions and the space dedicated to quality control and print master storage follow the same benchmarks as ever they did, with systems related to air quality preservation and humidity having received continual maintenance and improvement since the 90s. Security has only improved in the digital age, and the material handling concepts started with MAPS – that is, careful handling and an inventory system that tracks materials from storage, to camera, back to storage, and any other stops along the way – is a workflow that Backstage continues to use years later across multiple departments.
Top: Shipments are received at our truck-height dock before being moved into material storage and added to our inventory control database. Bottom: Institutions continue to store their print master or archival copies of microfilm in our specialized facility.
In 1992, MAPS boasted 13 Herrmann and Kraemer cameras and the patent-pending Exposure software, which was, and is, responsible for translating a reflectance densitometer reading into the correct exposure setting. Included in their promotional video is an excellent review on the key challenge in microfilming: accurate monitoring of density and resolution. High accuracy in the capture phase means less handling of original materials overall, fewer retakes, and excellent fidelity of the final product. Lastly, the former and continued dedication to RLG guidelines has governed the difference between ‘good-enough’ reproductions and what, instead, Backstage’s microfilming department is truly known for: preservation-grade capture.
According to Joe, “several workflows and ideologies from my time as a MAPS technician/supervisor/manager/VP have remained consistent, particularly those centered on efficiency, accuracy, and clear communication. For instance, the objective of streamlining processes to reduce errors and ensure timely task completion has not changed. The workflow for producing quality images on microfilm has largely stayed the same because it continues to be effective in maintaining quality standards. Additionally, the focus on collaboration and accountability remains a core principle in decision-making and team management. While some technological tools or minor procedural details have evolved, the fundamental objectives and guiding principles have stayed intact, proving their long-term value to the organization.”
A Learned History
It was founded in 1985 by Columbia University, Cornell University, New York Public Library, New York State Library, Princeton University to meet microfilming needs, their goals being “to adhere to the highest standards of preservation microfilming, and to create a high quality, low cost microfilming service for nonprofit organizations,” serving the preservation community. It was originally known as the Mid-Atlantic Preservation Service but, as its influence grew past its regional identification, MAPS was later renamed the MicrogrAphic Preservation Service. In 1990, MAPS and OCLC formed an administrative alliance. The building and its workflows, designed and established as they were by leading research libraries, formed one of the only operations in the United States specifically designed to meet the needs of preservation microfilming.
Backstage is one of the few remaining organizations capable of full-service microfilming, continuing to provide collation, camera preparation, scanning, duplicating, storage, and microfilm processing for libraries, archives, and historical societies on the daily.
In fact, the workflows and training developed by the MAPS team as well as the results of that work were considered so positive that professionals would visit the facility to expand their expertise. Three technicians from the German National Library spent 11 weeks observing how a modern micrographics lab operates, and the 1996, 2nd edition of Preservation Microfilming: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists shares pictures and workflows from MAPS alongside other leading micrographics units from around the world.
With so much said about what hasn’t changed, it’s important to note how much that has, as MAPS, then OCLC, now Backstage has continued its pursuit in being top-of-the-line in digitization, programming, and collection management. Matt Snyder, a member of the team since ’99, recalls the scope, staffing, and changes to technology that have occurred in his department: then, the digitization section of the company operated with fewer than half its current array of technicians. One flatbed color scanner, a manual microfilm scanner, and one microfilm/microfiche scanner in the late nineties have since graduated to an automatic ribbon microfilm scanner, two overhead cameras designed for transmissives, over twenty high-end camera arrays, and an assortment of other equipment to meet growing capture needs among libraries and archives. Much of the handwritten project management methods – whiteboards, pen-and-paper QA sheets – have modernized to web tools, and projects that were once burned to CDs now return to customers on hard drives. Where once our drive space boasted 100 GB, it now supports 10 TB, with the expectation that these upgrades will continue to expand as the years and technological innovations roll by.
19 employees remain at Backstage from the time with MAPS and OCLC which operated until 2009 when the unit was acquired by Backstage. Several of these staff members have gone on to be supervisory in their roles at Backstage. Kelly Barrall, for example, is now the Vice President of Digitization Services, using her experience as a talented camera technician with MAPS to inform how her team operates today.
Left to Right: Joe Konrath, Tom Matteo, Ben Burghoffer, Lourdes Rodriguez, Bill Jesse, Kelly Barrall, Matt Snyder, and Valerie Conto. The team also included Connie Wesley (pictured with our microfilm storage), Gerald Varner, Diane Nagy, and several others who have stayed with the microfilm department or moved into digitization or technical services.
A Continued Vision for the Future
Libraries were already discussing aims for the future of resource sharing and access in 1992 and how it would likely dovetail with digitization. While we don’t make as much use these days of hard discs, and not every workstation sports a microfilm reader and scanner, microfilm has remained the preservation standard. Digital files are easily derived from their microfilm counterparts when the reproduction is made according to RLG guidelines. These copies spare the original materials from being handled too much and pave the way for online or remote access. Where the digital file becomes the equivalent of a service copy, the microform stands strong in its role as a preservation medium. Microfilm collections, when properly maintained, will last up to 500 years.
The librarian’s world is always changing, as are the focuses of collections. Snapshots like these show us just how far we’ve come while reminding us that, at their core, the principles of librarianship and collection management have always been rooted in the desire to make information accessible to all. We look forward to pursuing this ideal for many more years alongside our colleagues.
The digitized video tour of the Micrographic Preservation Service is available under Resources.
Have questions? Call us at 1.800.288.1265 or send an email anytime to info@bslw.com with your comments.
