Coming to the courthouse to flip through 35 millimeter microfilm at the prothonotary’s office will soon become a thing of the past.

Longtime prothonotary Glenna Walters received approval from the county commissioners on Wednesday to hire Iron Mountain to convert all 35 mm microfilm to 16 mm.

Iron Mountain will then generate an external hardware drive to be downloaded into the prothonotary’s computer system so that those looking for documents or images regarding court cases can simply sit down at a computer instead of scrolling through microfilm on a separate machine.

Walters said 168 rolls of microfilm with 84,000 images dating back to the 1800s will be converted.

She said time is of the essence in saving some of the microfilm because of its condition.

The cost for the changeover is $4,450.

A full story appears in the Butler Eagle.