Microfilm

Today I struggled through yet another session with a microfilm reader at the library. Factors working to my disadvantage:

1. I had 25 minutes before an important meeting.
2. I was lugging around my winter gear—heavy coat, thick scarf, big tuque. Anyone who's ever had to find stuff in a library while wearing/carrying clothing designed for -20 C weather will understand.
3. Thanks to the magic of PDFs, I infrequently use microfilm, which means I forget how to use the reader in the ensuing six month gap. As a result...
4. I couldn't get the roll of film to load into the machine, so had to ashamedly ask for help from the circulation desk and
5. When I couldn't remember how to zoom in, a nice older gentleman at the machine next to mine showed me how.

The kicker? All this effort went to printing out a two-page review from the New Yorker. That's right: two pages. Two pages that I could have printed out in an online version, except that the html print-friendly version did not indicate the page break, rendering it useless for citation purposes.

And 6. Due to a dark ad at the top of the second page, the first four lines of said page did not print out. Rather than print another (which I knew from experience would produce the same result), I copied the missing words by hand onto the paper. So old fashioned.

Thankfully I had enough change on me, or that would have been set back #7. I hate technology that makes me feel incompetent.