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MICROFICHE CONTINUED TO BE THE DOMINANT MICROFORM IN THE 
MICROPUBLISHING INDUSTRY AND WHEREAS IT CANNOT BE CONSIDERED 
A TOTAL SUBSTITUTE FOR CONVENTIONAL PUBLISHING ITS APPLICATION 
CAN BE CONSIDERED AS A PARTNER UNDER THE FOLLOWING BROAD 
CLASSIFICATIONS. 
— Copying of original material where the reader market 
is too small to justify an economic conventional 
publishing. 
—  Micro-republishing when original material previously 
published by conventional means is copied and 
distributed as a microfiche. 
— Colour copying - when originally printed colour material 
can be given a high quality reproduction via microfiche. 
—  Micropublishing as a partner in enhancing paper printing 
through microfiche illustrations of certain information. 
Much has been written of the value of microfiche, not all of 
which is complimentary and there is some truth in the statement 
that much depends upon the age of the microfiche user. 
A well known Western Australian Publisher once made the comment:- 
"Most people in the 30's plus age group have developed 
strong reading habits. It requires good reason and 
personal adjustment to feel comfortable reading from 
a microfilm viewer". 
There are those who suggest that no microfilm viewing system 
is complete until it incorporates specially designed seating 
and others who, used to making copious notes on a document 
refuse to be drawn into the use of microforms of any kind. 
There are those who find dissatisfaction at the loss in image 
quality occasioned by a microform and refuse to accept the 
pushirg and shoving of levers and knobs as an adequate recompense 
for casual book scanning. 
Others miss the pleasure found in handling a quality bound 
book presentation. 
In a paper to the Australian Micrographics Conference in 1978 
entitled "Micrographics in Libraries". 
Mr W. Oakley a Librarian, opens his paper with this Statement:- 
"If past performance is any guide then it should be 
obvious to even the uninformed library user, that 
the microform industry should have no future - and 
rarely is a library user found to be uninformed 
about micrographics - they hate it". 
WHAT THEN ARE THE POINTS ABOUT MICROGRAPHICS WHICH CALLED UPON 
AUSTRALIANS TO SPEND AN ESTIMATED 100 MILLION DOLLARS IN 1981-82? 
OR SOME 5$ OF THE WORLD WIDE SPENDING (TR@PFAST). 
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