If the truth be told, much microfilm reproduces terribly. In many cases, only part of the page was photographed in focus. Compound that with the variables of the microfilm machine and the idiosyncrasies of the printer and you have a recipe for faulty photographing or transcription. Copying pages from The New York Times a few weekends ago at the NYPL, I was repeatedly frustrated by problems that would not even occur to some one using hard-copy. From my perch as a history buff, microfilm [notwithstanding its huge contributions] was adapted before its technology was perfected. None of which, of course, negates Phil Lord's points that preservation and access are the key issues, and that funding problems do obstruct utopian solutions. Bill Mac Kay New York City.