How to digitise newspapers

As phase 2 of the British Libray’s newspaper digitisation programme prepares to conclude (1m more pages are due to be added in the coming months), there are some interesting reports about the digitisation process becoming available.

The project’s final report looks at the issues such as the capture of metadata, the standards used, and the complex workflow developed. It also gives detailed information on which newspapers have been scanned are being added to the collection

Readers may also be interested in Simon Tanner’s article in dLib magazine, which goes into greater depth on how to measure the success of OCR technologies, and the methodologies required for such work.

It also worth comparing the digitisation of the British newspapers with other sites around the world

USA’s National Digital Newspaper Program

Spain’s Hemeroteca Digital

Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program

A fuller list of international digitisation projects for newspapers is available at the International Coalition on Newspapers site