Have you ever used a microfilm reader at a library? In the age between exclusively print library collections and online research databases, library patrons engaging in intensive research often relied on microfilm collections.
This is all thanks to Eugene B. Power (1905-1993), an entrepreneur in Michigan who was dedicated to preserving and spreading access to library resources through microfilm technology. He founded University Microfilms International (UMI), a company which developed the practice.
UMI is now known as ProQuest. To mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of UMI in 1938, ProQuest commissioned a delightfully goofy yet reverent comic book that depicts Eugene B. Power as a library superhero. You can read the entire book here. It’s hilarious.
-via G.J.G.
(Photo of a microfilm reader by Valerie)
