The term “microform” encompasses microfilm and microfiche (as well as the now mercifully extinct microcard). 

The UIUC Library owns thousands of microforms of materials in the humanities.  Most of the microfilm and some of the microfiche collections are located in the stacks of the History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library.  Microfiche is also housed in the sub-basement of the bookstacks.  The microfilm is arranged in a single call number sequence starting just inside the door to the History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library stacks, and it continues on the floor above.  Altogether we have more than 200,000 reels of microfilm

Many of the microfilm and microfiche sets have printed guides that will help you locate the material you need.  These guides usually have the same call number as the associated microfilm or microfiche, even though they are paper guides.  They are located on the shelves to your left just inside the History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library stacks.

As a general rule, microfilm copies of individual works are cataloged separately, just like books. These can be searched normally in the online catalog by title and/or author.   An example is:

Nowrojee, Jehangeer.  Journal of a Residence of Two Years and a Half in Great Britain.  London: W. H. Allen, 1841.  (FILM 942.081 N868j STX)

The UIUC Library owns many large microform sets, however, that are represented in the online catalog only under a collective title, without records for the individual works in the collection. Two examples of this type of set are:

Eighteenth Century French Fiction. Microfilm of 18th-century French books in the Library of Congress, Newberry Library, Bibliothèque nationale, and other libraries. (FILM X840.8 Ei44 RBR)

American Women’s Diaries (Western Women). (FILM 305.40978 Am35 STX)

Fortunately, the Reference Library has for many years maintained a list of microform sets owned by the UIUC Library. Recently this list was converted into a searchable database (http://web.library.uiuc.edu/asp/rex/Microform/Microform.asp). Please note that this is not a comprehensive listing of microforms in the UIUC Library. For the most part, this is a listing of sets with collective or generic titles, rather than separate works by individual authors. Search this database when you are looking for a set, such as Leaders of the Russian Revolution, State Slavery Statutes, or Landmarks of Science.

In some cases, sets with collective or generic titles have been fully cataloged (especially those acquired more recently) and are therefore included in the Library’s online catalog (e.g., Records of Antebellum Southern Plantations), so you should always start your search by looking in the online catalog.