National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 74 | April 2005


Library Hosts International Newspaper Conference

In late February the National Library hosted the Annual Business Meeting of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Newspaper Section, and an International Newspaper Conference. Over 90 Australian and overseas delegates registered for the two-day conference. Canberra turned on its usual pleasant autumn weather, giving European and North American delegates a brief respite from their northern winter.

A range of local and overseas speakers outlined developments, posed questions and explored solutions in well received presentations. It is clear that while much progress is being made around the world in terms of preserving and making available newspapers, it is an expensive and time-consuming exercise, if one which is of immense benefit.

Delegates heard about the latest developments in the massive British Newspapers 1800–1900 project at the British Library, which aims to digitise two million pages over the course of the 2004–2006 timeframe. Ed King, Head of British Library Newspapers, revealed that the Library will very shortly reveal the name of the software chosen to be used in this endeavour.

Geraldine Suter and Judith Pearce provided an update on the Argus Indexing Project, which will deliver the first complete index to an Australian newspaper, and which will cover the period 1846–1957. This very ambitious project will take some years, but the first online version of the index, covering 1870–1879, will be made available within the next few months from the National Library. 

Marie-Therese Varlamoff from the IFLA Core Activity on Preservation and Conservation (PAC) spoke about international developments. IFLA PAC has been working to identify and quantify the work needed in some regions to reformat key titles for the benefit of users in the future. Her colleague Else Delaunay, consultant to the IFLA Newspaper Section, spoke about the situation in France, where newspaper publishers are trying to decide the best way to combat falling circulation of their printed editions.

The tireless Professor Henry Snyder from the University of California, Riverside, where he is Director of the Center for Bibliographic Studies, spoke about the California Newspaper Project (CNP), and also managed to catch up with developments in MusicAustralia after revealing a private passion for opera. The CNP, which began in the late 1990s, has identified and located many thousands of California's estimated 20 000 newspaper titles published in the last 150 years. Through microfilming, many of the titles will be preserved for the future.

The conference was judged a great success by the delegates, who were treated to a barbeque lunch on the Library's podium overlooking the lake. Many also took up the offer of a tour of the Library and of some of Canberra's other tourist attractions.

The conference site at <www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/meetings/newspapers/about.html> shows the conference presentations.
—Sandra Henderson,  Manager, Research (Coordination Support), shenders@nla.gov.au

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