Higher prices for Family History Centre microfilm service

Get ready to pay more for microfilm loans through Family History Centres in Canada and the US.  The FamilySearch website announces that:

Due to the increase in the price of raw microfilm stock and the decreasing availability of this product on the market, it has become necessary for FamilySearch to increase the price of film loans in family history centers. As of 15 February 2012 the following prices will be in effect for film loans in the United States and Canada:          
Short-term Film Loan $7.50
Short-term Film Loan Extension $7.50
Extended Film Loan $18.75
Microfiche Loan $4.75
FamilySearch’s Microfilm Ordering service is your gateway to a vast collection of genealogical and historical records. The service allows you to reserve and loan films to family history centers and affiliate libraries. The loan is free, but there is a small shipping and handling charge for each film.

Microfilm loan from Family History Centres remains a wonderful service even at the increased price. The cost of film seems to have nowhere to go but up which would lead to further price increases, a trend technology driven as film loses economies of scale.

I'm confident the organization behind the ever expanding familysearch.org website, which already spoils us for access, has a plan to move to a service more technologically advanced and economically sustainable for its legacy collection. Maybe we'll see a digitization on demand initiative so that instead of delivering a physical microfilm a digitized version is made available, perhaps still only accessible at a Family History Centre.

via a lead from EOGN