A sheet of microfilm containing multiple micro-images of documents or pages, used for compact storage and retrieval of information. Commonly used in libraries and archives before digital storage became prevalent.
From French 'fiche' meaning 'slip' or 'card,' derived from 'ficher' meaning 'to stick' or 'to file.' The term entered English in the mid-20th century with the development of microfilm technology for document storage.
Microfiche was revolutionary for its time, allowing entire books or newspapers to be stored on a single card smaller than an index card. Libraries could store thousands of documents in the space previously occupied by a few dozen books, though the technology required special readers and was eventually superseded by digital storage.
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