UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS—A MICROFILMING SERVICE FOR SCHOLARS

The year 1938, not so distant in point of time, but early in modern microfilm history, saw the establishment of University Microfilms as the first commercially operated microfilm service to serve the needs of scholars and libraries. Other laboratories had been established earlier at the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the University of Chicago, but each of these had the benefit of outside funds for equipment and overhead expenses and each was primarily concerned with servicing its own collections. University Microfilms sought to provide effective microfilm service at rates comparable with those of subsidized laboratories.