The Reporter A Newspaper Digitization Project. Jenni Salamon Coordinator, Ohio Digital Newspaper PRogram

Transcription

1 The Reporter A Newspaper Digitization Project Jenni Salamon Coordinator, Ohio Digital Newspaper PRogram

2 Agenda Background Digitizing The Reporter Searching The Reporter Tips for Searching Digital Newspapers

3 BACKGROUND

4 About The Reporter Published 1969-present Established by William R. Ellis, Sr. to provide newspaper coverage of African American community Covers lives and perspectives of African Americans from Akron and surrounding areas Church, education, business, biographies, social events, current issues, politics etc. Still owned and operated by Ellis family

5 About Ohio Memory ohiomemory.org Collaborative program of the Ohio History Connection and State Library of Ohio Helps communities to share, discover and connect to Ohio s rich past through dynamic online resources Free access to over 700,000 images from over 360 institutions and all 88 counties covering prehistory to present day and various facets of life in Ohio Variety of material formats (manuscripts, letters, photographs, maps, objects, newspapers, printed materials and more)

6 Ohio Memory newspaper collection Over 360,000 pages About 40 titles/title families 24 counties Blue: Chronicling America* Purple: Ohio Memory Some overlap with Chronicling America Diverse voices *Even more Ohio digitized newspapers are available on Chronicling America (

7 Partnering with Ohio Memory Established, reputable newspaper microfilming and digitization programs Commitment to quality, industry standards, and long-term preservation and access Professional guidance and state-of-the-art expertise Increased discoverability Shared ongoing maintenance costs

8 Funding the project Microfilming, digitization and hosting via Ohio Memory $10,000 grant from Dick and Chris Chenoweth Fund of the Akron Community Foundation Akron-Summit County Public Library covered remaining costs

9 Questions?

10 DIGITIZING THE REPORTER

11 The collection Negative microfilm held by OHC , Positive/negative microfilm held by ASCPL , Original hardcopy held by ASCPL to be microfilmed by OHC Permission for digitization required (copyright)

12 Microfilming vs. digitization Microfilm One-time project, lasts 500 years Storage in cool, dry place Access requires light and lens Preservation! Digital Relies on continuous funding Changing and unstable technologies require migration and backup Access requires hardware, software, network, etc. Access!

13 Why microfilm? Create preservation copy Long-term, compact, durable, true facsimile Relatively inexpensive Recognized standards and national support Current processes and technology provides high-quality product and high-quality experience for user

14 Why digitize? Increased access Contributes to conservation and preservation of collections Recognized standards and national support With newspapers: Fundamental part of historical record Variety of information, unique stories, enhanced details Convenient Time-saving

15 Microfilming AND digitization Microfilm and digitize your newspapers! Both processes serve different purposes Often less expensive to microfilm then digitize

16 Incorporating standards: microfilming Material preparation (inventory, reel programming, collation, target creation)* American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards ensure high-quality image capture and reel production Least damaging method to disbind materials (if applicable) Quality control at all stages Preservation storage (cool, dry, secure)* *Can also be done in-house to save on project costs

17 Incorporating standards: digitization High-quality images and keyword searching Interoperability between multiple digital library platforms Structural and descriptive metadata Sustainable, long-term access

18 NDNP technical specifications Scanning from second-generation negative microfilm Intellectual and structural metadata Information about original, microfilm, digital editions of newspapers Page and issue order Image files Archival TIFF (8-bit uncompressed grayscale) JP2 (web access) PDF (with embedded OCR) XML files for pages, issues, reels, batches containing metadata For more info, see: Also see NDIG technical specifications: technicalspecifications

19 Project workflow Newspaper selection and analysis Identify (preliminary) titles/date ranges Review microfilm quality Obtain rights/permissions (if applicable) Planning/batching (for larger projects) Pre-digitization preparation Duplicate/purchase microfilm Collect metadata Ship to vendor

20 Project workflow Digitization Scan and process Create derivative images Generate OCR and XML files Validation and inspection Check NDNP compliance Review quality/accuracy of images, OCR, metadata Rework, if needed Upload and provide access Use CONTENTdm upload images, metadata, OCR

21 Questions?

22 SEARCHING THE REPORTER

23 Ohio Memory

24 Limit by newspaper format

25 Browse by collection

26 Collection home page

27 Browse all Sort by title or searchable date

28 Basic search

29 Advanced search

30 Results page

31 Viewing your results Search terms highlighted in red Results on other pages from same issue will be indicated in thumbnail view with a * symbol by the page number

32 Viewing tools Full screen Fit to width Thumbnail Zoom Fit to window Rotate Clip

33 Sharing your findings Reference URL Clip and Save Partial Image Print/Save Full Image

34 Questions?

35 TIPS FOR SEARCHING DIGITAL NEWSPAPERS

36 Use advanced search to combine terms any (Abraham OR Lincoln) at least one search term appears all (Abraham AND Lincoln) all search terms appear within (Abraham NEAR Lincoln) search terms appear near each other phrase ( Abraham Lincoln ) search terms appear in exact order as typed none (Abraham NOT Lincoln) excludes pages with specified search term phrase 8,679 results within (50) 9,130 results all/and 12,158 results any/or 65,603 results

37 Apply limits Format, collection, date, state, title Use limits in combination for more precise searching Relax limits to increase number of search results

38 Select appropriate search terms Contemporary (historical) vocabulary Regional differences City, county, institution names Name variations Synonyms for common words

39 Know your newspaper(s) Title changes Printing inaccuracies (publishers weren t perfect) Not all news and types of news were printed in all newspapers 18 th, 19 th and early-20 th century newspapers May be partisan (social/political) Multiple published in each town, county, region May report on news beyond city of publication Do not typically include vital stat info, graphics Those outside mainstream often served by their own newspapers Special press provides more coverage of religious, ethnic, foreign language, labor and other groups

40 Understand limits to keyword search Computer generated Captures printing accuracies...and errors Thrown off by imperfections on page May require more than one search to find information

41 Try, try and try again Newspaper research can be challenging but very rewarding Search with more than one word or phrase Never give up after the first try!

42 More resources Chronicling America s Recommended Topics Ohio Memory s Educational Resources Newspaper website help pages

43 Questions?

44 Thank you! Jenni Salamon