The Weyburn Public Library has installed a new, state-of-the-art microfilm reader machine with printing capability, in an effort to assist people interested in past local history or those doing genealogical research on their family roots.

The installation of the microfilm reader is the first part of the project, with the goal to have a computer hooked up to it by this fall, to enable people to download the information and either e-mail it or copy it for their own use.

Library board chair Dianne Sander noted the library has had a microfilm reader since 1981, but the machine has not had printing capability since the 1980s. The older machine is still available for use in addition to the newer model.

"This will be of great interest to those who are visiting home for Homecoming and might have a question about past history or their family. They could do research on their business background or the family," she said.

Sander said the Weyburn library needs to raise about $6,000 to finish paying for the microfilm reader, while the Southeast Regional Library will be contributing the computer for hookup later in the fall.

Library staff member Ilene Lequyere noted with Weyburn's Homecoming week coming up, the library has received several inquiries for information already from people looking into their past, or the community's past.

She noted the library has an extensive collection of census material, with the most recent added to the microfilm files being the 1906 census, with 1911 census material just now being made available. Also, a number of the earliest years of the Weyburn Review are on microfilm, as far back as 1922 up until the 1940s. Purchases of more microfilm resources will be an ongoing part of the project as well.

With the goal to have a computer hook-up, said Lequyere, this will greatly enhance the access to materials, some of which can only be obtained on-line, or else can be ordered on-line to be brought in to the Weyburn library. Due to the importance of these microfilmed materials, they can only be used at the library and cannot be removed. The computer hookup would enable researchers, students and genealogists to make true copies from microfilm documents, or download it onto a disk or CD-ROM for use in their own computers.

"I don't want to have to do my research on Weyburn in Regina. This is our community, so we should be looking after our history and providing it here," said Lequyere, who is also actively involved in local history and genealogical research.

The new microfilm reader has capabilities the older machine does not have, such as the ability to turn the image around 180 degrees on the view-screen, the ability to enlarge a section of the page, and printing in three sizes of paper: 8 1/2X11 (letter size), 8 1/2X14 (legal) and 11X17 sizes.

Sander said the fund-raising effort has just begun with letters sent out to groups and organizations, and other efforts may be organized in the fall.