Microfilm Scanners.. Whaaaaat???

ok ok SOOO! i have been in the library since like 8:30 this morning and its like 12:30 right now BUT i have this huge paper for my 'history of the invasion of the aboriginal nations' class due soon and i need to get it done by wednesday aka TOMORROW so i can have my unit assessor go over it with me.  soo i was looking for primary sources for my paper cus in order for this class to count for history credit back home at cal lu (and i REALLLY want it to count! cus if it doesnt count, that means i took this really dumb HARD class that is NOT FUN AT ALL as an electiveeee) i have to use mainly primary sources from the time of the event aka newspapers/magazines/personal accounts anything as long as its from the source. 

ALRIGHT sooo i was on the catalogue and i found all the newspaper articles that i need for my paper and i went downstairs where it says the newspapers/microfilm (what the heck is THAT?!) are and i found SHELVES and SHELVES of these liiiiiitle tiny white boxes.. that im assuming must be the microfilms?? (still have no idea what they are at this point).  so i find the particular little white box with the label of the first newspaper i needed, i opened it up and inside is this blue miniature movie film roll looking thing and im like... uhh coooooool? what do i do with this?! andd sooo im walking around the downstairs of the library (which is totally random btw no one ever goes down there and everything is just cluttered in random places) and im searching for a machine that looks like it will read this mini blue film roll and i finally come across the oldest looking machine i can find tucked back around this dark corner near the fire exit and lo and behold was the 'Cannon Microfilm Scanner 300 II'... once again.. coooooll??? I DONT KNOW HOW TO USE THIS!!! haha.. 

luckily there was a photo diagram of how to use it hidden behind the glorious machine and i thought.. "brilliant! this is exactly what i need! i can do this now!".... WRRROOONNNGGG!! i figured out how to turn it on.. and that was about the ONLY thing that went flawless.. the first time i loaded the film i didnt put it under the glass plate so when i pushed the device under the reader i jammed the film up in the reader.. round two i realized that the film had to go under the stinking little glass piece and i got it under the reader and i the picture was upside down and it jammed AGAIN cus i didnt have it running over the write gear... THIIRRDD time i realized that the image was upside down not because there was a button that i needed to push but because i really did infact load the film UPSIDE DOWN! haha and then i got it running over all the right gears and it was smoooth sailing from there :) .. needless to say 10 newspapers/film rolls later, i am a microfilm scanning EXPERT! :)

while i was shuffeling through articles i came across this poem that was submitted to the newspaper in the poetry section written by a prison inmate and im putting it in here then i am going back to work :)

Don't Quit

When things go wrong 

as they sometimes will

When the road you are trudging

seems all uphill

When the funds are low

and the debts are high

And you want to smile 

but you have to sigh

When care is pressing you 

down a bit

Rest if you must,

but DO NOT QUIT

Life is queer 

with its twists and turns

As everyone of us

sometimes learns

And many a failure

turns about

When he might have wont 

had he stuck it out

Don't give up

though the pace seems slow

You might succeed 

with another blow

Success is failure

turned inside out

The silver tint

of the clouds of doubt

And you can never tell 

how close you are

It may be here 

when it seems afar

So stick to the fight

when you are hardest hit

It's when things get worse 

that you mustn't quit

RC Crosswell

Canningvale Prison, Western Australia