Library of Congress Selects iArchives to Make Century-Old Newspapers
Available Online
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Currently, these newspaper pages are stored on microfilm at the Library. Digitizing them through iArchives technology will allow the information to be available to anyone online, rather than limiting it to people who must physically be at one of the Library’s microfilm readers or borrow and use it only through their local library.
“Students, historians, lawyers, politicians – even newspaper reporters – will be able to go to their computer at home or at work and through a few keystrokes get immediate, unfiltered access to the greatest source of our history,” said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said, “We hope the National Digital Newspaper Program inspires other institutions to make their public domain newspapers accessible online.”
iArchives scans the microfilm page and allows users to search within that page image using leading edge technology. Searches can result in matches found in any text, including photo captions, headlines, stories, even advertisements, a capability not offered in either microfilm viewing or text-based searching.
“There is a richness of content and context the public has never been able to experience before,” remarked Derek Cordon, VP of Sales and Marketing for iArchives. “Imagine reading headlines of World War I, correlating them with local events and people, and even comparing goods and prices of the times through ads in the same newspaper.”
The NDNP is beginning its efforts with NEH-sponsored awards
to six institutions in the
About iArchives
iArchives is the technology leader in transforming analog information into
searchable digital data. With its high accuracy OCR technology working in
conjunction with image enhancement, iArchives provides unmatched search
accuracy within paper or other analog documents. The success and flexibility of
this technology is seen through the variety of iArchives client applications:
iArchives provides analog to digital information delivery for library,
university, newspaper, legal, commercial and other markets. The company offers
complete digitization lifecycle services including information delivery
software, image optimization, and scanning of microfilm, microfiche, bound and
unbound books of any size, and other paper documents. For more information
about iArchives, visit www.iarchives.com
About Datatrac Information
Services Inc.
Founded in 1987,
Datatrac is an award-winning, Native American, Women-Owned company with more
than 1,500 dedicated employees across seven states. Datatrac provides
technology-enabled solutions that support its clients' efforts to transition
their infrastructures and business processes from analogue to digital, thereby
enabling services that are more client-centered, more efficient and more
cost-effective.
About The Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. Its more than 130 million items -- books, newspapers, periodicals, manuscripts, maps, photographs, films, sound recordings and digital materials – are accessible through its 22 reading rooms on Capitol Hill. The Library’s newspaper collections have grown to comprise more than 1 million current issues, more than 30,000 bound historical volumes and more than 600,000 microfilm reels.