Microfiche scanning

[Lisa Schiefer <seast@home.com>]

I found a place in Anaheim CA called CD Solutions -(818)342-3709- that
specializes in converting micro fiche to CD ROM; there is a real cost issue
though since we, the list family, are not converting a ton (literally) of
film. Any librarians out there, think we could slip our order in with theirs?
Since I don't have any fiche myself, I really didn't know what to ask, but
guessed the film is about 6 x 8 inches in size and has both images and text,
and each miniature page would be 8 1/2 x 11 in real size. I also assumed there
would be roughly 2000 individual pages (several Bentleys). CD Solutions would
scan every individual page on every sheet of microfiche and save them as TIFF
files, which various programs can read. To do just that would be around $2500.
Doesn't sound so great; but for additional money -and purchase of their
software, which costs $399, each page would get named, indexed,
cross-referenced, and the whole ball o'wax. Now _that_ sounds cool. 
	So, the $3000 questions are: How much micro fiche is out there? What does it
really look like? How many pages of information are contained in this stack of
film? Does it need to be indexed, etc.? Are there 100 people ready to spend
$30+ for this product? Is this legal? Discuss amongst yourselves... Actually,
would some fiche owner write and tell me how far off the mark I am? I need
numbers to crunch.
	My original idea of scanning the film, was to use a high end flat bed scanner
with a transparency adapter, available at Service Bureaus and graphic designer
studios. Scan it at high resolution, import to photoshop, enlarge, and print
out sections as needed. This would be very similar to just scrolling through
the film at the library. So far, not too expensive. Surprisingly, not everyone
uses Photoshop (and some actually use wintel computers- no one I know) so
those scans would have to be converted to pages and saved to some universal
format (Adobe PDF might be good) This would involve time, and much love,
money, or trade for performance parts- maybe even a whole Ur-Q. Again- if it's
legal and CARB exempt. Speaking of which, gotta get the Audi smogged today.
Wish me luck; the exhaust has been growling since the trip to LA. 
	Ciao Amigos!
Shane East