Newspaper Digitization Makes Vast Information Accessible and Searchable

Newspapers are packed with information. However, the vast availability of information contained in them makes it difficult to find and browse at a quick pace. In other words, it’s challenging. Of course, it’s a different story when newspapers are microfilmed, which is usually the case in many libraries. Unfortunately, libraries only hold a few of microfilmed newspaper copies and are often not even available in other libraries. Even with this new kind of access to newspapers, except when they have been indexed, searching for specific information can be tiresome.

Newspapers are top candidates for article conversion because of the wide ranging, hard-to-access, and all-encompassing information they hold. At its best, newspaper digitization makes information easily accessible and searchable to anyone.

Why newspaper digitization?

There are many benefits of newspaper digitization. It greatly extends and widens the span of access that can be provided. Newspaper publishing companies, for example, can choose to make their digitized newspapers available to many of their readers, whenever and wherever.


At the same time, the use of a digital copy enables libraries and many companies to preserve their original copies which after many years, can become fragile, making accessibility more difficult. Digitized newspapers on the other hand, have the ability to be keyword searchable which makes information gathering easy and fast.

Why is it better than microfilmed versions?

In preserving newspapers, microfilm is actually an accepted standard process. Some companies that convert newspapers to digital copies film newspapers first, before digitizing them. Microfilming is their priority. As a result, filming and digitizing are processed simultaneously.

In such cases where films are old, it is still best to use the original printed version of a newspaper. In fact, some of the largest projects for newspaper digitization are filming their old papers again because their original microfilm copies are getting dim and hazy.

Although newspaper digitization is commonly processed from films, using print materials has its advantages. Print copies are easier to digitize. Unlike films that get old, blurry, and are sometimes incomplete, digitizing newspapers from printed source is reliable and easy to read because they are clearer.

What’s more, processing print materials produces better results. This in turn, enables high-quality image output and successful character recognition which is key in making text searchable.

This article discusses the digitization of newspapers. It provides brief information about the importance of this process and it’s comparison with microfilmed newspapers. It also explains the advantage of newspaper digitization over microfilmed copies.