This isn't a strictly rare book problem, but I don't know where else to turn for help. We are about to start microfilming a large collection of Japanese and a small collection of Arabic books. The books are read from right to left. Common sense tells one that they should be filmed from right to left. However, our Arabic consultant has instructed us very strictly to film from left to right and run the film backwards. And I think she is correct. If you film from right to left, the verso appears first on the screen instead of the recto, so you are always moving your head, and the film if only a single page fits on the screen, back and forth. If you film left to right and run it backwards, the film flows in the direction of the text.
Is anyone out there filming this type of material in that way? If so, can he/she give advice about targeting? The bibliographic target at the end? A note at the beginning of the film warning the user to start at the end? Any other advice?
Carol Clausen
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
Bethesda, MD 20894
ph: 301 435 4993
fax: 301 402 0872