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National Digital Newspaper Program
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<h2 id="purpose">Purpose</h2> <p>This project dovetails with the <a href="/facts/United_States_Newspaper_Program/5dFHqmN0">United States Newspaper Program</a> which was a massive project to microfilm newspaper collections. The initiators of that earlier project asserted that the intellectual content of newspapers serves an important role for researchers as it is for all intents and purposes the first draft of history. Newspapers also provide unique access to "diverse geographic viewpoints at the community level."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> Problematically, since the middle of the 19th century this "first draft" has been recorded on poor quality <a href="/facts/Newsprint/AdpgzNMs">newsprint</a> which is decaying rapidly. This digitization project's purpose is to continue preserving newspaper and newspaper collections while addressing the inadequacies of the prior program. Through digitization, it is more likely that images will be copied with fidelity and that the records will be more richly searchable. This latter point is huge as newspapers traditionally posed a research challenge due to density of text and inadequate cataloging of content. </p> <h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>On March 31, 2004, <a href="/facts/Bruce_Cole/KTCwPguC">Bruce Cole</a>, the directory of the NEH, and <a href="/facts/James_H._Billington/TabWylSU">James Billington</a>, the Librarian of Congress, signed an agreement creating the National Digital Newspaper Program. The NDNP follows in the footsteps of the successful <a href="/facts/United_States_Newspaper_Program/5dFHqmN0">United States Newspaper Program</a>, a several-decade effort to catalog and microfilm the bulk of America's historic newspapers. The program is broken down into two phases. Each successive phase will both increase the scope of the program and refine the requirements for data collection. </p> <h3>Phase 1</h3> <p>In July 2004 the award guidelines were issued. Applications were due in October and awardees were announced the following March. The first phase took newspapers from a small subset of the states, limited to 1900 through 1910. After using this phase to improve technical requirements and specifications, the program was opened to other awardees in Phase 2. </p><p>The awardees for Phase 1 are: </p> <ul><li><a href="/facts/University_of_California%2c_Riverside/QVdCJj5c">University of California, Riverside</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/University_of_Florida_Digital_Collections/H8Iud1Ht">University of Florida Libraries</a>, Gainesville</li> <li><a href="/facts/University_of_Kentucky/AdJlvQ7w">University of Kentucky Libraries</a>, Lexington</li> <li><a href="/facts/New_York_Public_Library/2BfpGN3P">New York Public Library</a>, New York City</li> <li>University of Utah, Salt Lake City<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li> <li>Library of Virginia, Richmond</li></ul> <p>The General-access Phase 1 website prototype was implemented in March 2007 and that May it was announced that phase 1 was completed. </p> <h3>Phase 2</h3> <p>Phase 2 of NDNP expanded grants to an additional group of institutions. Awards granted in 2007 and 2008 included the following institutions: </p> <ul><li>Arizona State Library, Archives and Records Management</li> <li><a href="/facts/University_of_Hawaii/6nzkEffB">University of Hawaii</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Minnesota_Historical_Society/FEVWrvQp">Minnesota Historical Society</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/University_of_Nebraska%2c_Lincoln/J43EEWSI">University of Nebraska, Lincoln</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/University_of_North_Texas/GBlevdJU">University of North Texas</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Ohio_Historical_Society/Lja18SeA">Ohio Historical Society</a>, Columbus</li> <li><a href="/facts/Pennsylvania_State_University/WMQagtjM">Pennsylvania State University</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/State_Historical_Society_of_Missouri/5Cm8thtU">State Historical Society of Missouri</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Washington_State_Library/TcNYdnPz">Washington State Library</a></li></ul> <h2 id="program-technology">Program Technology</h2> <p>Participants must follow the technical guidelines laid out in a 64-page PDF.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The technology for the NDNP digital repository is being built using largely <a href="/facts/Open-source_software/HzTaB8E9">open source</a> software, including: </p> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Apache_Cocoon/p0M1PqIo">Apache Cocoon</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Apache_Lucene/tPQ0D39Y">Apache Lucene</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Gentoo_Linux/zX81Cqs8">Gentoo Linux</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Fedora_(software)/LJ2ocge5">Fedora</a></li></ul> <p>Digital objects are stored in .TIFF 6.0, .JPEG 2000, and .PDF formats. Metadata is provided in the METS/MODS version of XML and XML provides the basis for larger hierarchical structures as well. </p> <h2 id="alternatives">Alternatives</h2> <p>The scanning efforts of the government entity have been dwarfed by <a href="/facts/Newspapers.com/oVMy9GDw">newspapers.com</a> and <a href="/facts/Newspaperarchive.com/SHKXQBls">newspaperarchive.com</a> which as of March 2018 claim to each have scanned more than 350 million pages. Publishers, libraries and historical organizations find the private sector faster, less complicated and cheaper than the National Digital Newspaper Program. Both private organizations charge readers to read, but do not charge publishers to scan items.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/United_States_Newspaper_Program/5dFHqmN0">United States Newspaper Program</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Trove/Vv1upcJN">Trove</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://www.neh.gov/projects/ndnp.html">National Endowment for the Humanities</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.loc.gov/ndnp">Library of Congress</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.nypl.org/digital/projects_NDNP.htm">New York Public Library</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.oah.org/pubs/nl/2004may/cole.html">Bruce Cole introducing the NDNP to the Organization of America Historians</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/">Utah Digital Newspapers</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070127123824/http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/">Archived</a> January 27, 2007, at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/">Chronicling America</a></li> <li><a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/fdnl1">Florida Digital Newspaper Library</a></li> <li><a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/ufndnp">Florida & Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project</a></li> <li><a href="http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/TDNP/browse/">Texas Digital Newspaper Collections</a></li> <li><a href="https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/hnccoll">Newspapercat: a catalog of digitized historical newspapers.</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"National Digital Newspaper Program". Archived from the original on April 17, 2007. Retrieved April 17, 2007. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070417173936/http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/ndnp.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20070417173936/http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/ndnp.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Humanities, National Endowment for the. "Chronicling America | Library of Congress". chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. Retrieved February 1, 2023. <a href="https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/" target="_blank">https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Humanities Celebrate Millionth Page in Chronicling America Program". Library of Congress. June 16, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2009. <a href="https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2009/09-123.html" target="_blank">https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2009/09-123.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"The U.S. Newspaper Program – Scope, Achievement, and Progress". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved May 1, 2007. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070928062045/http://mlcnet.org/objects/rte/mediaupload/File/eventsdocs/events/05newspapers/05Sweeney-2_files/frame.htm" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20070928062045/http://mlcnet.org/objects/rte/mediaupload/File/eventsdocs/events/05newspapers/05Sweeney-2_files/frame.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/ Archived January 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine [bare URL] <a href="http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/" target="_blank">http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"Ndnp: Technical Notes On Formats For Digital Reproductions" (PDF). Library of Congress. Retrieved February 1, 2023. <a href="https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/pdf/NDNP_200709TechNotes.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/pdf/NDNP_200709TechNotes.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"A Retiree Digitizes 27 Million Old Newspaper Pages in His Living Room (And Libraries Fight to Catch Up)". May 18, 2014. <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2014/05/18/a-retiree-digitizes-27-million-old-newsp" target="_blank">http://reason.com/blog/2014/05/18/a-retiree-digitizes-27-million-old-newsp</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>