The Digitization of Historic Newspapers on Microfilm: The Kentucky Experience

Abstract

As the Kentucky representative in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), the University of Kentucky Libraries Preservation and Digital Programs (UKPDP) team has worked extensively with historic newspaper digitization from microfi lm over the last four years, using both an in-house production methodology and vendor resources. With more than 50 years experience with microfi lming newspapers added to that, UKPDP is well versed with issues related to historic newspapers on microfi lm. "Digitizing historic newspapers from microfi lm" may sound as if all the work lies in the mechanics of digitization. Our experience tells us otherwise. If the digital surrogates are to be an accurate representation of the newspaper, there are several points to consider beforehand that have little or nothing to do with the digitization itself but, rather, with the newspapers and how they were microfi lmed. This article identifi es the more pressing of these issues and offers some solutions for them. It does not address in detail the more complicated affair of hardware, software, interface access, or storage associated with the digitization. A Brief History: Newspapers A Brief History: Microfi lm at the University of KentuckyWithout the mass of historic newspapers on microfi lm that

Digitised historic newspapers as a primary source for marketing historians

“…During the 1930s, librarians at Harvard and Yale Universities, the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress began to adopt a new technological solution to the challenge of preserving historic newspapers, the microfilm (Terry, 2009, p. 55). University of Kentucky librarian Kopana Terry (2009, p. 55) has observed that “polyester-based silverhalide microfilm is a proven preservation medium that can last up to 500 years under the right conditions.” Libraries and later commercial publishers began to microfilm historic newspapers especially nationally important newspapers such as the London Times , the New York Times and the Washington Post . By the early 1950s, the American Newspapers on Microfilm directory listed several thousand newspaper titles which had been microfilmed.…”

Vrednovanje slikovnog sadržaja u povijesnim novinama na primjeru Jastrebarskih novina

“…Razlučivost teksta na mikrofi lmu smatraju zadovoljavajućom. S druge strane, K. Terry (2009) sagledava novinske fotografi je kao sadržaj koji će mikrofi lmiranjem izgubiti na kvaliteti te zaključuje da neizbježno dolazi do manipulacije i promjene prilikom bilo kojeg preformatiranja, pri čemu je cilj da se manipulira što je manje moguće u odnosu na tzv. master sliku, bila ona analogna ili digitalna.…”