UCC Library holds thousands of reels of microfilm and sheets of microfiche containing copies of government records, manuscripts, newspapers, and printed books. While some of the material is now more readily available online, much is not, and the collection offers access to a wealth of information from around the globe. The collection was acquired over many decades to support teaching, particularly in the areas of Folklore/Béaloideas, Geography, History and Irish/Gaeilge.
The microfilms are arranged by country, and each reel is numbered. Please use the tabs for further information about the different categories of material. For the most part manuscripts on microfilm are uncatalogued and a finding aid in three black binders exists in the Reference Reading Room in Special Collections. These contain listings of the manuscript material by location. The listing is arranged in alphabetical order according to place and then the location of the manuscripts. Example: 'Dublin: Royal Irish Academy' comes before 'Dublin: University College Dublin.'
If in doubt, please contact the Special Collections and Archives Service Desk.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIxgoLpn1x2/?igshid=whf1l3f2u8qz
Microform is a type of film that contains micro-reproductions of paper documents e.g. newspapers, maps, manuscripts, journals and other primary source material. Microform can include microfilm (rolls of film on reels) and microfiche (film in sheets).
All microform images may be provided as positives or negatives but are usually provided as negatives.
Microfilm is available in black and white only.
If you would like to know more about the different microform media, this video may be of interest.
Example of microfilm: UCC main series 2504, with manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
There are four microform reader/printers (output as A4 / A3 paper) and two ScanPro reader/scanners (output as PDF files).
To print from a microform reader/printer a copy card is required. This can be bought from the Special Collections Desk. There is no charge for using the ScanPro reader/scanners. If you wish to save images from the ScanPro please bring a USB stick with you. Alternatively, you can take images from both the reader/printers and reader/scanners using the camera on your smartphone.
If assistance is needed to load microform on either machine please ask at the Special Collections & Archives Desk.
See the Special Collections & Archives' Equipment LibGuide to learn how to use ScanPro machines or microform reader / printers. There are also instructions posted next to each machine.
