Genealogist Claire Bettag recently learned that the LSU library has a digital microfilm reader that offers remote access over the Internet and graciously shared her discovery on the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG-L) mail list. I'm big on keeping up on the latest technology, but this cool option was new to me!

These ST200 digital microfilm readers not only allow patrons to burn images to a CD or save them to a flash drive, but they can also email an image to themselves or, best of all, log on remotely to gain access from home. Staff at the library or repository using these machines still has to physically load the microfilm for you, but once that's done you can view, scan, zoom, email and print from the microfilm remotely. This makes it easier for library staff to serve more patrons as scanning through microfilm can be a time-consuming process, as I'm sure most of you know.

I've used similar machines without the remote access at several different libraries, including the Family History Library, and they are very nice! It looks like the remote access technology is fairly new, but at least a few libraries have already jumped on the bandwagon. A digital microfilm with remote access is also available at the Sedalia Public Library in Missouri, and the Wayne County Public Library in Goldsboro, North Carolina, is hoping to add the remote access option to their new ST200 digital microfilm reader next year. There are questions about how well this will work, of course. Can the film accidentally run off the roll (think how frustrating that would be from 500 miles away)? What about the needs of the patrons in the library? (that's why LSU offers the remote sessions from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. while the library is closed). Hopefully, more libraries and other repositories with large microfilm collections consider adding remote access microfilm readers - especially those which already have the ST200 and would only need to purchase the optional add-on remote access component. How cool would that be?