Up to now, the literature microfilming work of national libraries has taken and rescued about 200,000 kinds of precious documents, equivalent to 150 million pages of books, and the length of the film has exceeded 7,000 kilometers.

The picture shows a microfilm with ancient books.

Photo by Chen Xue/Guangming Picture

　　"Density 1.1~1.25, washing temperature 32℃, gray version 1.35".

Below the note with this string of data is a black-and-white film. From the above, it can be clearly seen that the film is an ancient book. In the National Library of China, there are more than 20 million pictures of this film ( Note: One shot is one film).

　　Recently, the reporter learned from the media briefing on the protection of ancient books held at the National Library that at present, more than 88 million shots of documents in the national cultural and tourism system have been rescued, and the length of the film is 7,000 kilometers; all kinds of rare books and ancient books have been shot and rescued. , There are about 200,000 kinds of ordinary ancient books, books and periodicals of the Republic of China, and about 150 million pages of books.

Microfilm rescue is an important way to protect ancient books

　　Microfilm is a commonly used material in the field of ancient book protection, but for the public, "microfilm rescue" is still a very unfamiliar concept.

　　According to Zhang Zhiqing, deputy director of the National Library of China and deputy director of the National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books, there are three methods for reproducing ancient books: one is microfilming, which is characterized by long-term preservation; the second is digitization; and the third is photocopying and publishing.

These three methods need to work together and cooperate with each other.

　　At present, neither tapes nor CDs have a very long shelf life. They have to be copied and converted every 20 years. However, the current acid-free paper can be stored for three to four hundred years, which is not as good as microfilm, which can be stored for 500 years. above.

　　Microfilming technology is currently the most effective long-term preservation method of precious documents recognized internationally. It has special advantages in terms of document protection and preservation: film storage occupies a small space, long storage life, safe and reliable, and easy to transform and use.

It is understood that, according to the internationally standardized aging test, this type of film must pass the inspection of more than 500 years of storage before it can meet the requirements of the relevant national standards.

　　"This is our microfilm. It looks no different from ordinary photographic film, but in fact the difference is quite big." Wang Lei, director of the National Library Document Microfilming Center, showed a roll of microfilm. This kind of film is different from ordinary photographic film. The camera film is different: there are no holes on the top and bottom, the picture is very clear, and the naked eye can recognize the larger pattern text.

A roll of 35mm film can take 500 to 700 shots, and an ordinary book page can be shot into two pages. That is to say, a roll of palm-sized film can take 1,000 to 1,400 pages of documents.

This small film has a lot of "technical content". From film shooting to use, the entire business process has 78 national standards and more than 30 operating specifications to ensure its inheritance and retention for more than 500 years.

　　Wang Lei introduced that the development of microfilming technology has been more than a hundred years old. Some countries in Europe and the United States began to use microfilming technology to store documents as early as the 1920s and 1930s. In the International Military Tribunal’s Trial Records, many original records and materials were imported into the country in the form of film.

　　"Microfilm technology is not fashionable, but it is very safe and reliable." Microfilm faithfully records the original appearance of the document and cannot be tampered with. Therefore, the "Measures for the Implementation of the Archives Law of the People's Republic of China" makes it clear that the microfilm has the same effect as the original file.

my country's microfilming work started late but has achieved fruitful results

　　"This era is indeed a digital era, but as far as China is concerned, I think it is indeed a bit slow to start." Peking University professor Rong Xinjiang once wrote "Digitalization is the lifeline of national culture" discussing the digitization of ancient books. He believes that "digitalization is a national strategy", but also optimistically pointed out that "we Chinese are very powerful, so once we start this work, we will soon be able to go up."

　　The same is true of the microfilming work of precious ancient books in our country: it started relatively late, but the work has achieved great results.

　　In 1982, when Ren Jiyu, the former curator of the National Library of China, participated in academic exchange activities in Qufu, Shandong Province, he saw that some precious ancient books and documents were seriously damaged. Rescue the data," and soon received instructions from relevant leaders.

The rescue and protection of precious ancient books and documents in my country also kicked off.

　　Regarding the urgency and effectiveness of microfilming work, Wang Lei said that the protection of ancient books and documents is mainly divided into two aspects. One is the protection based on the document medium, and the other is the protection based on the document content. In an environment that meets the standards for the storage of rare books, and minimize unnecessary touches.

An ancient book conservationist once calculated that for precious ancient books that are old, every time they are touched, the impact on them is equivalent to the degree of natural aging in about 60 years under normal conditions.

But without touching the ancient books, the excellent Chinese traditional cultural content contained therein cannot be effectively used and disseminated, and the ancient books cannot be "lived". Therefore, the best way to protect the content is to conduct microfilming. The microfilm after filming can be used. It is very convenient to digitize or photocopy and publish, so that the contents of precious ancient books are "incarnate into thousands" and spread widely, while avoiding or reducing touching the original ancient books to the greatest extent.

　　In 1985, the National Library Document Microform Copy Center was formally established, and my country started the rescue and protection of precious documents on a large scale using microform technology.

It is understood that over the past 30 years, 25 public libraries have become microfilm centers and 19 public libraries have become archives. Together, they have achieved a total of 88 million microfilms.

　　The most important task is the rescue and protection of precious rare books and ancient books.

It is understood that, among the 200,000 types of microform documents that have been photographed by the National Library Document Microform Copy Center, 23,000 are rare and rare ancient books. A large number of rare national treasures such as "Zhaocheng Jinzang" and Dunhuang Posthumous Manuscripts are all rare. In its list.

This work has made significant contributions to the rescue, preservation, protection and inheritance of Chinese precious ancient books and documents, and the National Library of China plays an important leading role.

　　Shooting, development, cataloging, copying, digitization... In the National Library of China, professional microfilm staff carry out a series of standardized operations every day. The microfilm warehouse here is only 2,000 square meters, but more than 200,000 are stored. This kind of microform document-this number is growing every day, and it will continue to grow.

Because of how long our history is, the work of document protection and inheritance needs to be done for how long.

(Reporter Chen Xue)