British Library to digitise 40m of its newspaper pages

[dipsydoodle]

he British Library has announced a 10-year project to make 40m pages from its newspaper archive available online.

The record of more than 300 years of journalism, including coverage of the Crimean and Boer Wars, will be put on the web by the publisher BrightSolid.

The move will spare historians having to search the current hard copy and microfilm collection.

The digital material will be made free to users at the main library site at St Pancras, north London.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8690919.stm

[Dutch]

1. That is great news

At least, it is for those like me who find microfilm just about the fiddliest, most annoying substance on the planet.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Piece of cake for me to get to as well

The Library is only 15 minutes by train away from me. :)

I'm not sure what they'll do about remote online searches.

[enlightenment]

3. Wow.

After spending endless hours at the Colindale location, I have got to say WOOHOO!!!!

That place has always made me feel like I've stepped into a Dickens' novel, from the creaking iron gate to the icy drafts that whistle through the walls . . . not to mention the sometimes scary librarians who snatch your request from your shaking fingers and pore over it, looking for the tiniest flaw. I once watched one of them reduce a couple of schoolgirls to tears, haranguing them because they DARED to request one volume more than was allowed. The hushed silence of the reading room isn't one of respect - it's pure fear!

And the microfiche room? agh.



edited for tense agreement