Adjusting profiles for microfiche

DDM2 is your friend. You can look up your library’s profile with the Depository Selection & Directory tool and specifically limit to item numbers with microfiche. Items may be dropped at any time using the Amendment of Item Selections page.

If you want to avoid selecting items that include fiche, look for the “MF” in the format column or the title column in the List of Classes on DDM2.

Substituting digital access for fiche

GPO recently clarified the rules about disposing of recent, unwanted print and fiche materials where an electronic copy is available. To avoid waste, GPO does not depositories to pitch brand-new print items when a digital copy is available. These should be retained for at least 1 year before disposal. If this guideline is unacceptable, the advice in this case is to drop the item number and keep an eye on the New Electronic Titles list for new digital copies in the library’s area of interest.

 General microfiche weeding guidelines

Microfiche do not need to be listed for weeding or regional approval of disposition. Please send me an email about the SuDoc range you wish to weed (which gives me a chance to check the strength of the regional collection), but approval to discard will be automatic.

Collection weeding

ERIC information on weeding: Handy “keep” and “pull” lists for weeding fiche that have been digitized.

Department of Energy weeding: DOE technical reports from 1991-present are online (many contained in the E 1.28: call number range) through Information Bridge.

Options for recycling microfiche

Safety Kleen: This is the recycler that comes up the most. The nearest branches appear to be in Spokane, Casper, Calgary, Fargo, and Bismarck.

The University of Washington Facilities Service site notes, “Microfiche copies (stripe across top) can be recycled as e.Media.” They suggest GreenDisk.

In discussions of recycling ERIC fiche, two additional recycling sources have been mentioned:  Kodak and Major Metals.