Many microforms, like newspapers, are arranged in a straightforward manner. But others, especially archival collections, are arranged in a manner specific to that collection. Here are some tips to understanding them.
- Check our Microforms Reference section for printed guides. If we have one, it's usually under the same call number as the microforms are.
- Search by title in IUCAT to see if there's a guide under a different call number. This might happen if two microform collections that are otherwise unrelated share one printed guide.
- Search the Internet for the title of the microform. Many publishers have made their guides available online. See the Papers of the NAACP for one example.
- Check below to see if we have created a guide or a finding aid. We do this sometimes when no other good guide can be procurred.
Tips and Guides from the Wells Library Staff on Selections from the Collection
- Draper Manuscript Collection: "The collection as a whole covers primarily the period between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812 (ca. 1755-1815). The geographic concentration is on what Draper and his contemporaries called the 'Trans-Allegheny West,' which included the western Carolinas and Virginia, some portions of Georgia and Alabama, the entire Ohio River valley, and parts of the Mississippi River Valley. For complete distribution, see State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Some reels of the Draper Collection are also owned at the James H. Kellar Library, Glenn Black Laboratory."
- The microfilm of Early English Books, including the Pollard & Redgrave and Wing collections have been moved to the ALF because they are also available online. You can search for these by title in IUCat.
- Yiddish Books from the Harvard College Library contains the full text of 2,601 works in Yiddish on microfiche. Some works are in translation from other languages.
- Harvard Library Hebraica: Nearly 900 titles of Hebrew books in Ladino. This is a list of them.
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service
NEWS AND NEWSPAPERS
- Newspapers of the American Revolution: A list of newspapers that were published during the American Revolutionary Era which are available in mircoformats at the Wells Library.
- Indiana Newspapers: Guide to Indiana newspapers including a list of our holdings and other information.
- Black Newspapers: List of African-American newspapers in microformat.
- Television News Programs: Brief guide to ABC, CBS, and the MacNeil/Lehrer television news programs that are available electronically and/or on microfiche.
- Underground Newspaper Collection and Hoover Institute Supplement: This collection is amazing, but absolutely unnavigable without a guide. We have one in print, but just in case, I've left here this link to an online copy available to IU affiliates.
Other Interesting Things
- Un and Under Cataloged Microforms: Over the years, some microforms have fallen through the cracks. This evolving guide sheds a little light on these little-known collections.
Return to Government Information, Maps, and Microform Services.
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