Subject: Re: Archiving Newspapers Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:53:22 -0500 Message-ID: <9C49D07A5713B84682C5D80195C5AE61030A7132@MEWMAD1P0130.enterprise.wistate.us> From: "Knies, Helmut M - WHS" <Helmut.Knies@wisconsinhistory.org>
In answer to the question about "archiving" newspapers, the
Library-Archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society is adopting a
twofold approach. The first solution is the one that has been in
existence for the past sixty years and is still the one that can provide
assurance for the long-term, meaning decades or even centuries,
preservation of newsprint. That is, we make the attempt to microfilm
all Wisconsin local newspapers. Currently, we are receiving close to
300 titles from cities and town all over the state. Most of these are
weekly newspapers. We received the papers here and prepare them to
filming in our agency's microfilm lab. Additionally, there are a
smaller number of daily papers, from larger cities in state, which are
already being microfilmed by commercial vendors such as ProQuest or
Heritage Microfilming. In these situations, we purchase the microfilm
directly from the vendor. Microfilm is, currently, the only long-term
stable medium that will assure that the content of the newspaper is
accessible and useable into the indefinite future. There are, of
course, limits to the usefulness of microfilm, and, increasingly,
researchers wish to have the level of access that they can only get from
a digital system.
The Wisconsin Historical Society is very much aware of this and is
investigating several options to address the needs of preservation
balanced with access. One option is that we now have the technology to
take microfilm reels and digitize them. In this way we could have a
system that preserves the newspaper content and provides easy access.
The main limits to this approach are both in the technical standards for
the transfer process and in the costs associated with making the scans
and then creating a user interface so that the public can search the
files. The other option lies in acquiring access to digital newspaper
files that already exist. The Wisconsin Historical Society and the
Wisconsin Newspaper Association have had some discussions on this topic
already. There are digital options available for providing access to
currently produced newspapers. Our goal here is find a path that will
make one of these options a reality. This will mean solving technical
problems of how newspaper files are created, transferred and saved;
addressing the newspaper's intellectual property concerns in an adequate
manner; finding a means to provide access to the largest possible public
audience, directly over the web, using a system that is reliable and
cost-effective; and, addressing the major problem, still generally
unresolved, about saving digital files over the mid to long-term and
being able to count on the accuracy of the data contain within those
files.
As we pursue these goals, the Wisconsin Historical Society remains
focused on its core mission, as it has been since 1846, to preserve and
provide access to the materials that help individuals connect to their
own history and to that of the State of Wisconsin.
Helmut
Helmut M. Knies
Collection Development Coordinator
Libary-Archives
Wisconsin Historical Society
(608) 264-6478
helmut.knies@wisconsinhistory.org