Metamorfoze Preservation Microfilming Guidelines.

This article focuses on the Metamorfoze Preservation Microfilming Guidelines applied by Metamorfoze, the Dutch national program for the preservation of the paper heritage. Before the original documents are delivered for microfilming, they must be checked by the client for completeness, order and quality. A bound original must be browsed through to see if all the pages are present. Loose-leaf originals must be checked leaf by leaf. Two different techniques are used for filming library materials, each with its own preferred film type and development method. The choice of technique depends on the original material. High contrast filming is used for materials that contain no or very few grey tones and therefore show a high contrast between characters and background. Low contrast filming is normally used for materials that contain many grey tones and therefore show low contrast between characters and background. The master negatives are twice checked on technical aspects. The first checked is conducted by the filming agent, this involves checking all the master negatives. The second inspection is conducted by the Metamorfoze quality manager. This offers the additional opportunity to discuss new technical insights.