The VTDNP: From Microfilm to Keyword-

Searchable Online Newspapers

Tom McMurdo, VTDNP Project Librarian

Microfilm is the basis of any NDNP project.

Why use negatives to make scans of newspapers?

Finding the negatives

Most master negatives of newspapers are “pre-standards.”

Microfilm Evaluation:

Acetate or polyester?Vinegar syndromeScanning quality

Scanning: In-house or vendor?

2 very different approaches: control versus overhead

Most National Digital Newspaper Program state projects outsource scanning.

Scanning RFP

There are several excellent companies working on NDNP state projects.

What are the criteria for evaluating this RFP?

Scanning vendors working in the NDNP

VTDNP Workflows

Title selectionMicrofilm: positives and negatives

Metadata creationScanning, OCR, and XML files

Quality reviewDelivery to LC

Searchable pages online

Title selection

Selections chosen through a rigorous process

Stakeholders

Justifiable process

Microfilm

Positive vs. negative film

Metadata creation:

Frame-by-frame inventory

Scanning, OCR, and XML files

Quality review of scans and files

Files to Library of Congress

Success!

Online searchable Vermont newspapers

Questions?