National Archives Microfilm Price Increase!

william russ · Post by **william russ** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 4:25 pm

Hi all,
I thought I would post this info for everyone who buys microfilm from the National Archives. I got a postcard from them a couple of days ago saying that there would be a price increase on all microfilm. This was not unexpected as the price of everything else has increased over the last 9 years. Much to my surprise, it is going from 34 dollars (domestic) a roll to, as of October 1, to 65 dollars a roll! That's nearly double the current price!
Talk about your sticker shock!!! To say the least, I will have to cut back the number of rolls I order.
Here is the full quote on the postcard:
"To keep up with the ever increasing costs, the National Archives and Records Administration announces its first microform price increase since 1996.
Effective October 1, 2005, the price of National Archives black-and-white microfilm is $65 per roll; foreign orders are $68 per roll. The new price for color microfilm is $82, with foreign orders priced at $85 per roll. Microfiche prices are not effected. We regret any inconvenience."

Talk about your inconveniences!!!!!!!!

John Nelson · Post by **John Nelson** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 5:16 pm

Hey Will,
Do you know the prices for microfiche? I haven't been able to find prices for these despite an extensive search. I've wanted to order microfishe for the following Guides:

Nr.87, 91, 96, and 99 for OKH
Nr.84,85,86,94 and 99(draft) for OKW

Where can I find the prices for each, and how to order them. They are not available in the T-176 series of Microfilm, and I've asked NARA for the prices of each, and they refer me to their website.

John Nelson

Hans · Post by **Hans** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:48 pm

I noticed that the postage on my last order was about 90% of the cost of the item. Therefore it seems a fair hike to me. Bugs me though that I have to buy from the USA as the Germans reckon that they havn't got the info., when I know that the originals were returned to them years ago.

I noticed that in the records of the 46 ID, Panzers and Panzer related statements are often referrred to as "Tanks" etc. anyone know of any reason for this?

- Hans

william russ · Post by **william russ** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 12:36 pm

Hi John,
The prices you are looking for are:
$4.25 a fiche ($4.65 foreign). Minimum order of $6 required.
This is from the latest catalog and according to the above notice these prices were not affected by the price hikes.

Bill Russ

John Nelson · Post by **John Nelson** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:49 am

Hey Will,
Thank you so very much for the heads up! I checked nara.gov to confirm what you said. Although I just made an expensive order for 10 roll, two weeks ago, this price hike forced me to purchase 27 more before it becomes too expensive. Thank you for saving a fellow researcher a good chunk of change.

John Nelson

Lorenz · Post by **Lorenz** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:16 am

Effective October 1, 2005, the price of National Archives black-and-white microfilm is $65 per roll;

Outrageous! The first RG 242 microfilm I bought from NARA (then NARS) was in 1977 and it was $8.00 a roll! That's an 800% increase in just 28 years. The CPI multiplier over that same time frame is only about 2.5. So evidently, NARA is not just trying to cover their costs but trying to make a buck, too, and IMHO that's just not right when it comes to educational research material.

Are you fellow researchers aware of the fact that many of the RG 242 rolls can be borrowed through interlibrary loan? Over the course of those 28 years I bought about 730 rolls from NARA, but I borrowed at least another 1,500 through interlibrary loan. By 1987 or 1988, I had my system down pretty pat and only bought the microfilm I needed that I could not otherwise obtain through interlibrary loan. To do this, it is best to do the borrowing through a university or a community college interlibrary loan department, but a public library can do this, too, only not as effectively.

The three largest holders of NARA microfilm in the United States are the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago, San Jose State Univ. in California and Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona. But there are hundreds of other holders, including some with very large collections (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Auburn Univ. in Alabama, Univ. of Iowa, etc., etc.).

--Lorenz

Piet Duits · Post by **Piet Duits** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 10:04 am

This really is outrageous !!!
Price increase, OK, I can dig that. But so high, nope...
And still, if you knew exactly what was on a roll, that would make the price affordable, in a way. Now you buy a roll and have to find out what's on it, and moreover how many items are on it double duplicated.

Outrageous !!!

Hans · Post by **Hans** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:17 pm

I think it's cheap. The postage on the last roll I received was US$28. As i had made a mistake and ordered the same roll twice I returned with a request to change it for the correct roll and offered to pay the postage. Back came the new roll at no additional cost to me, therefore they actually lost on the deal. Great job.

- Hans

munchener · Post by **munchener** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:53 pm

I can go to the National Archives and have anything I want just for the cost of a few cents <paper> why do you want rolls of microfilm?

Munchener

Annelie · Post by **Annelie** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:18 pm

Munchener

Sometimes one must buy an roll just to find the information
they are searching for. The "National Archives in Washington"
will not search for particular pages or certin information for you.
That is why many must buy the roll.

munchener · Post by **munchener** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:36 pm

Re.microfilm the people at National Archives actually give me the roll<I can't leave the building of course> then I can scroll thru and choose,it's quite simple really maybe you can suggest this method as it does save time and money.

Munchener

Annelie · Post by **Annelie** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:43 pm

.microfilm the people at National Archives actually give me the roll<I can't leave the building of course> then I can scroll thru and choose,it's quite simple really maybe you can suggest this method as it does save time and money

this is probably true of Nara also, but when one cannot visit in person
one must order the whole roll.

Hans · Post by **Hans** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:15 pm

M,

Bit difficult to get from Aus. to the USA just to look at a microfiche. Now that would be uneconomical.

- Hans

Lorenz · Post by **Lorenz** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 4:46 am

Annelie and Hans -

I think you are both being intentionally provoked by Herr Münchener. He knows full well all of the points you both mentioned. Don't let him get to you.

--Lorenz

william russ · Post by **william russ** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 1:53 pm

Hi Lorenz,
Thanks for mentioning the microfilm holdings at the other libraries. I have gotten many rolls from the CRL in Chicago through my local universities inter-library loan service (the University of South Carolina). The holdings at the CRL only amout to about 1600 rolls, which is tiny amount of what actually exist. It did not take me long to find what I could use from them. That's when I switched to ordering them.
Anyway, the inter-library loan is a viable alternative for us in the USA, but not for our foreign friends, as they will (generally) not ship microfilms outside the USA.

Bill

Feldgrau.net

National Archives Microfilm Price Increase!

National Archives Microfilm Price Increase!

Microfishe prices

Microfiche Cost

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Microfilm

Microfilm

Inter-library Loan for Microfilms