Digitization from Newspaper Microfilm: The Colorado Experience
Brenda Bailey-Hainer CHNC Program Director Colorado State Library
June 2006 www.ColoradoHistoricNewspapers.org Slide 2 Colorados
Historic Newspaper Collection Partners On-going endeavor of:
Colorado State Library Colorado Historical Society Collaborative
Digitization Program (CDP) Lead agency on original LSTA and IMLS
grants Slide 3 Colorados Historic Newspaper Collection Single
source of historic newspapers Statewide coverage Available online
Starting with earliest from 1859 Released Jan 2004 2 papers, 1200
pages Long term goal: Comprehensive as possible 275+ newspapers
published before 1923 Additional years as copyright is cleared
Slide 4 Colorados Historic Newspaper Collection As of June 2006 93
newspapers 50 cities represented 36 counties represented Around
327,000 pages digitized Coverage from 1859 to 1930 Includes papers
in English, German, Spanish, and Swedish Slide 5 Parameters
Sustainability important Microfilm for Colorado newspapers at
central location Efficient, cost effective method of digitization
Processing and searching interface available with desired features
Slide 6 Responsibilities Digitization based on newspaper microfilm
held centrally at Colorado Historical Society State Library staff
manages software, hardware, telecommunications, user support
Program Director at State Library provides general oversight, fund
raising, financial management Advisory Group makes recommendations
Olive Software used for processing, software interface Slide 7
Microfilm Assessment Positive copies reviewed Quality of original
paper Number of pages per reel Page count at end, or Estimate
number of issues, pages per issue Ownership of master negative
Slide 8 Microfilm characteristics Most microfilmed in 1960s, some
1950s Have not digitized any National Newspaper Project film to
date Film from professional company does include grayscale and
focus targets Page/frame counts at end of reel Older microfilm
better in many cases than more recently filmed Quality of original
paper bigger concern than quality of filming Slide 9 Olive Software
Features Select newspapers from list, then by date Leaf through an
issue page by page Search full text of newspapers Topics, names,
companies, organizations, etc. Search one newspaper or all papers
Limit searching by date Limit searching to articles, pictures or
ads Look at article by itself Look at article in context View
featured articles on specific themes Supports broadband or dial-up
connection Slide 10 Olive Features Customized for CHNC Large number
of newspapers made navigation challenging Map and regional approach
developed State divided into 7 regions Separate skin developed for
each region Users may search or browse newspapers within a region
Ability to select any combination of papers Slide 11 Collection
Development General policies: Historic newspapers published in
Colorado Start with earliest available published issue of a title
and move forward chronologically Some donations allowed selection
criteria worked with CO historians on some regions Currently driven
by donations Target fundraising efforts to counties with no papers
online Focus on issues published prior to 1923 due to copyright
concerns Slide 12 Slide 13 Collection Development Use master
negatives only unless special circumstances Negatives produce best
results Masters duplicated to preserve originals for archival
purposes Original papers often were destroyed during filming Donors
support digitization of film Authorize scanning if original filmed
was in poor condition Slide 14 Collection Development Unintended
positive consequences Easier to determine missing issues Has helped
to identify existing paper copies for filming Slide 15 Slide 16
Slide 17 Slide 18 Slide 19 Slide 20 Slide 21 Slide 22 Financial
Sustainability Project started with 2 grants LSTA - $120,000 Funded
initial hardware and software license IMLS - $249,232 Funded
digitization of first 96,000 pages Focus groups and training
sessions Marketing flyers Slide 23 Financial Sustainability
Donations funded 231,000 pages Over $425,000 donations to date
$1.25 digitizes and indexes 1 page $400 for each newspaper title
profile Fund specific newspapers Cost quotes include small overhead
margin Hardware/storage expansion Offsite data storage Slide 24
Conclusions Digitizing from microfilm allowed fast results
Automated parts of process Relatively inexpensive Allowed for full
page image plus article segmentation Financially supportable
through contributions Slide 25 Colorados Historic Newspaper
Collection Brenda Bailey-Hainer CHNC Program Director Colorado
State Library [email protected] 303.866.6907
www.ColoradoHistoricNewspapers.org
