Do they need all the information in the MDB everytime they access it?
Maybe they could start to archive the older or 'closed' information in the MDB to another file so that the MDB everyone will access everyday is 'active' information.
Either way, I would start to think of a backup procedure for the 97 MDB so that you always have a daily backup copy. Especially if your ramping for a future SQL migration.. you'll need a copy to play with anyways when pre-checking the new SQL version.