Old News is Good News as Newspaper Archive is Planned for the Web
9 Jun 2004. A new project, which will digitise in excess of one million pages of fully searchable texts and associated images from out-of-copyright 19th century newspapers from the British Library, has been announced by JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) today. The vast majority of newspapers in the British Library collections remain in print form, and are only accessible to researchers who can visit the Newspaper Library in Colindale, North London. The website resource will provide an unparalleled and freely available resource for further and higher education, in the first instance.
British Newspapers 1800 - 1900 is a £2m project, made possible through funding from the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE). The overall digitisation programme is managed by the JISC, and represents a total investment of some £10m to be applied to delivering high quality content online, including sound, moving pictures, census data and still images for long-term use by the further and higher education communities in the UK.
The newspapers will be selected in consultation with the further and higher education communities through an online consultation in the summer of 2004. Suggestions will also be sought from the newspaper industry, to maximise partnership potential. It is anticipated that n ational papers to be digitised will include The Morning Chronicle (a reformist newspaper with a young Charles Dickens as a reporter and W M Thackeray as art critic) and the Morning Post (who engaged writers such as Samuel Coleridge and William Wordsworth). Regional and local papers will be drawn from all regions of the UK.
In the nineteenth century Britain transformed itself from an agricultural society to an unrivalled commercial, industrial and military superpower with an Empire that spanned the globe. British engineers and inventors, such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Robert Stephenson forged the Industrial Revolution, while social reforms, from the abolition of slavery, Catholic emancipation and the growing labour movement were to transform the lives of British people. This project will represent these and many other developments and bring them to life through newspaper accounts to provide an extraordinary resource for the further, higher education and research communities.
Many of the proposed titles were the definitive news sources of their day and include not only news, but editorials, features, advertisements, photographs - cumulatively representing a resource of very significant historical and cultural value.
Sir Ron Cooke, Chair of JISC, welcomed the new project, saying: "This is a marvellous example of collaboration between JISC and the British Library, one of our most important partners. Newspapers represent our culture in a unique way and JISC is proud to help create what will be an invaluable educational resource."
Ed King, Head of the British Library's newspaper collections in Colindale commented, "The British Library is committed to making our collections accessible to as many people as possible. Before the world wide web existed, readers had to visit the newspaper archive in Colindale to look at all aspects of the collections. This project is managed by the British Library, with funding provided by JISC. This means that digital copies will be available for web users who can explore these early out-of-copyright editions in their entirety. We are delighted to be working with JISC on this major national initiative".
For further information please contact Catriona Finlayson at the British Library Press Office, London, NW1 2DB Tel: 0207 412 7115, email catriona.finlayson@bl.uk
Or
Stuart Dempster at JISC Tel: 020 7848 2564 or 07971 928 299, email s.dempster@jisc.ac.uk
Notes for editors
1. The British Library - is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk.
2. JISC - Joint Information Systems Committee - is a joint committee of the UK further and higher education funding bodies, and is responsible for supporting the innovative use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support learning, teaching, and research. It is best known for providing the JANET network, a range of support, content and advisory services, and a portfolio of high-quality resources. Information about the JISC, its services and programmes can be found at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/. For further information, contact Philip Pothen on +44 (0)20 7848 2935 or 07887 564 006; email p.pothen@jisc.ac.uk.
3. The British Library Newspapers catalogue includes entries for over 52,000 newspaper and periodical titles. The collections include: all UK national daily and Sunday newspapers from 1801 to the present; most UK and Irish provincial newspapers, some dating from the early 18th century onwards; selected newspapers from around the world in European languages, some dating from the 17th century onwards; and a wide range of UK and Irish popular periodicals, covering all subjects from fashion, pop music and cinema, to sports, hobbies and trades.
