Australian Newspaper Plan Preserving for permanent access Annual Report 2006/7 purpose

Preserving for permanent access

The purpose of this report is to describe progress made with the Australian Newspaper Plan (ANPlan). The objectives set out in ANPlan’s five year plan (2005-2010) have been used to evaluate progress.

Since it was established in 1992, the Australian Newspaper Plan (formerly known as the National Plan for Australian Newspapers) has aimed to preserve all Australian newspapers and ensure that the public has adequate access to them. The first Five Year Plan (http://www.nla.gov.au/anplan/about/), developed by all ANPlan libraries, was endorsed by NSLA in November 2005. It addressed, in particular, actions relating to key ‘at risk’ newspapers.

While microfilming has traditionally been accepted as the preferred preservation strategy for Australian newspapers, with the rapid changes in digital technologies, ANPlan libraries have been considering how these new technologies will affect how they will meet their objectives. Following a workshop on the implications of digital technology for newspaper preservation and access, held at the National Library of Australia in June 2007, further actions were incorporated into the Five Year Plan. The revised Five Year Plan which incorporates a strategy which will assist ANPlan libraries to meet their obligations in the digital age is attached as Appendix D to this report.

PROGRESS

Five year plan (July 2005 - June 2010)

Below is a report on progress in the year July 2006-June 2007 against the Five Year Plan goals. Additional national goals which appear in the revised Five Year Plan will be reported on for the first time next year.

1. 
   To find, acquire and preserve access to nationally significant missing newspaper titles/issues
   

In preparation for the planned ‘search and rescue’ campaign to recover missing newspapers/issues, many of the ANPlan libraries have added greatly to their lists of missing newspapers/issues. A newly revised list which includes some 238 missing newspaper titles is available at: www.nla.gov.au/anplan/about/collect/.

2. 
   To preserve access to nationally significant ‘at risk’ newspaper titles
   

Advertiser 1923-1959 (SLSA) Refilming has been completed to the end of 1939.

3. Re-film nationally significant newspapers to a quality which will support subsequent digitisation

The following nationally significant newspapers have been re-filmed:

Advertiser 1923-1959 (SLSA) Refilming has been completed to the end of 1939.

Albany Advertiser 1897-1950; 1897-1901; 1902-1950 (SLWA) 1897-1901 refilmed to required standard, 1902-1950 to be refilmed

Bunbury Herald 1892-1929; 1892-1902; 1903-1929 (SLWA) 1892-1902 refilmed to required standard, 1903 –1929 to be refilmed

Coolgardie Miner 1894-1918; 1935-1950; 1894-1915; 1910; 1915-1917; 1935-1950 (SLWA) 1894 –1911, 1913-1917, 1935-1950 refilmed to required standard, 1911-1913, and 1918-1935 to be filmed

Daily News 1882-1950 (SLWA) Filming in progress

Eastern Districts Chronicle 1877-1926; 1877-1905; 1905-1926 (SLWA)

Geraldton Guardian 1906-1950 (SLWA)

Kalgoorlie Miner 1895-1950 (SLWA)

Northern Times 1905-1950 (SLWA)

Pilbarra Goldfields News 1897-1923; 1897; 1898-1923 (SLWA)

Register 1847-1931 (SLSA) refilming complete to end of 1846

South Western News 1903-1949 (SLWA)

Southern Times 1888-1916 (SLWA) 1888 – Apr 1892 filmed to required standard, May 1892-1916 to be refilmed to required standard

Sunday Times 1897-1950; 1897-1945; 1946-1950 (SLWA)

Sydney Gazette & New South Wales Advertiser (SLNSW) filmed up to 1836

Western Australian Times 1874-1879 (SLWA)

Western Mail 1885-1950; 1885-1920; 1921-1950 (SLWA)

In summary, 17 of the 22 newspapers nominated have been either re-filmed or re-filmed for a portion of the date range specified in the five year plan.

1. 
   Checking condition of masters
   

2. 
   Microfilming
   

In 2006/7, the NLA provided a total of approximately $294 000 (GST inclusive) to state/territory libraries through cooperative newspaper microfilming funding. Newspapers filmed under this program included those designated as being ‘nationally significant at risk’ in the ANPlan five year plan and those that will support the national newspaper digitisation program.

For 2007/8, $362 200 (GST inclusive) has been offered to the State Libraries of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia and the Northern Territory Library.

The quality of filming required for subsequent digitisation has been an important consideration for ANPlan libraries.

3. 
   Improvement of storage arrangements for newspapers and preservation masters
   

4. 
   Reviewing custody arrangements of preservation masters
   

5. 
   Cataloguing microfilm on the national database
   

The NLA’s Newspapers Digitisation Program (NDP), carried out in cooperation with the state/territory libraries is a major undertaking which will provide free online access to Australian newspapers from the first newspaper published in 1803 through to 1954. This program supports the goals of ANPlan. The National Library of Australia is developing software and infrastructure to support this mass digitisation program.

In addition to involvement in the NDP, the SLSA has continued the in-house project to re-film and digitise South Australia’s first newspaper, the Register (1836-1931). The two-year pilot (2005-2007) has allowed SLSA to gain insight into the process and has clearly demonstrated the inefficiencies of simultaneous microfilming and digitisation. The SLSA will separate the processes in future.

The digitisation of three Victorian regional newspapers is currently in a testing stage. The titles are:

7. 
   Promotion of the Australian Newspaper Plan
   

Fundamental to raising the profile of ANPlan has been the ongoing redevelopment of the ANPlan website (www.nla.gov.au/anplan).

Many of the ANPlan libraries have promoted ANPlan and the value of newspaper collections in public talks, tours and through websites.

NTL Update featured an article on the proposed refilming of the Northern Territory Times and Gazette which included an overview of ANPlan and the Cooperative Newspaper Microfilming funding provided by the NLA for 2007/2008.

A significant promotional opportunity for the preservation of newspapers was the donation to the SLSA of a missing newspaper, the Blyth Agriculturist. At the hand over ceremony, SLSA preservation staff demonstrated to the invited guests, including media, the techniques used to preserve and reconstruct fragile newspapers. At a morning tea to mark the occasion the Director spoke to the invited guests who included representatives from the current publishers of the Northern Argus and members of the Clare Regional History Group, highlighting the value to the SLSA of newspaper collections and the role all newspapers have in documenting local history.

An article about the work of ANPlan libraries in preserving and providing access to newspapers through the Australian Newspaper Plan was published in the September 2006 issue of National Library of Australia News (http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2006/sep06/sep06news.html). This article used stories and images from the state libraries of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and the National Library.

The Australian Newspaper Plan was the focus of an interview on ABC Radio National’s Media Report, originally aired in November 2006. This interview resulted in a number of responses from members of the public.

A major focus of attention for ANPlan in 2006/7 has been the consideration of the effect of digital technologies on preserving and providing access to Australian newspapers. In October 2006, the National Library issued a discussion paper drafted by Colin Webb entitled, Roles of digitisation and microfilming in newspaper preservation. Following comment on this paper from all ANPlan libraries, a workshop was held at the National Library in June 2007 to develop an action plan to help ANPlan libraries to address these issues (see Appendix D: Five Year Plan (2005-2010)). This action plan will help ANPlan libraries to make progress in the areas of:

• 
  digitisation and maintaining access to digital versions of newspapers;
  
• 
  maintaining access to microfilm and microfilming facilities;
  
• 
  costing different reformatting approaches;
  
• 
  researching issues associated with collecting, managing and providing access to online newspapers and pre-press digital versions; and
  
• 
  reviewing the impact of the digital environment on ANPlan roles and responsibilities, particularly the provision of support for newspaper digitisation by local community groups and public libraries.
  

ANPlan partners met three times in 2006/7—by teleconference in November 2006 and March 2007 and in Canberra in June 2007. These meetings, in addition to the ANPlan discussion list, and a members’ working area on the Internet, have facilitated joint planning and sharing of information. ANPlan partners continue to express their appreciation of the opportunity to meet regularly, particularly face-to-face.

In response to a request from NSLA, the newspaper initiative formerly known as NPLAN, was re-named Australian Newspaper Plan: preserving for ongoing access.

That the report be noted and that NSLA endorse the revised Five Year Plan (2005-2010) in Appendix D.

Details of titles filmed are provided in Appendix C.

The NLA microfilmed 5 retrospective ACT titles on 31 reels (17 517 frames).

The NTL microfilmed 1 retrospective title (1 reel) and duplicated 3 retrospective titles (83 reels) which were on acetate. The NTL also provides microfilm of 5 regional titles to NT public libraries.

In addition to the current newspaper microfilming program where all current New South Wales newspapers are microfilmed systematically as each volume is completed, two retrospective newspaper titles were acquired and filmed.

The SLQ microfilmed 30 titles, 275 reels in-house, 131 reels by contract; total 406 reels (214 311 frames).

In total SLSA filmed 475 reels (448 606 frames) during 2006-2007, setting a new record for microfilming capacity at SLSA. These filmings include retrospective cooperative microfilming projects and filming of current metropolitan and regional newspapers.

The SLT commissioned the microfilming of 3 major Tasmanian newspapers (41 reels 44 525 frames) and 18 regional titles (20 reels; 9 031 frames) in 2006/7 (total: 61 reels; 53 556 frames).

The SLV commissioned the microfilming of 5 significant retrospective titles (107 reels, 59 016 frames); 509 reels of acetate microfilm were duplicated.

In addition to these titles the SLV has an ongoing program to microfilm current and recent issues of the Melbourne daily newspaper the Herald-Sun, and the rural newspaper the Weekly Times. All back issues of these two newspapers have been microfilmed and this program ensures that microfilm holdings for these two major and significant titles are kept up to date. Approximately 48 reels of the Herald-Sun, and 6 reels of the Weekly Times are produced annually.

State Library of Western Australia

At the SLWA, The Historical Records Rescue Consortium (HRRC) project, funded by Lotterywest, includes a significant funding component for filming newspapers. This project runs to the end of 2007. The SLWA re-filmed 9 titles (529 reels) of newspapers classed as significant and at risk of loss due to deterioration and 4 titles (59 reels) of regional and local high demand titles (total frames: 392 785). In addition to this, 3 significant titles (46 reels, 32,997 frames) were microfilmed as part of a cooperative microfilming project with the NLA.

Retrospective ACT titles microfilmed:

Retrospective titles filmed:

The following newspapers on acetate were duplicated:

Regional titles filmed are: Alice Springs News, Centralian Advocate, Katherine Times, Northern Territory News and the Sunday Territorian.

In addition to the current newspaper microfilming program, the following retrospective titles and periods were acquired and filmed:

Duplicate negatives were produced for New South Wales newspapers that were jointly filmed from 1969 to 1992 as part of the Provincial Newspaper Joint Copying Project, before the production of three generations of film was policy. In 2006/07, 31 titles were completed:

Fourteen titles on 115 reels on acetate were transferred to polyester film in 2006/7:

The SLSA has filmed the following titles in cooperation with the NLA, Mount Barker Community Library, Naracoorte Lucindale Council, Penola School Community Library & Wattle Range Council, Port Pirie Public Library and the Adelaide Catholic Archdiocesan Archives:

Retrospective titles filmed:

Major Daily Newspapers:

The SLWA re-filmed the following newspapers, classed as significant and at risk of loss due to deterioration:

Cooperative newspaper microfilming with NLA:

The following regional and local high demand titles were also filmed:

Geraldton Guardian: 1 June 1994-27 Dec 2001

* The Sunday Times 25 Dec 1910-2 Oct 1960 was filmed with funding from the Sunday Times. The Sunday Times has made available funding for a fourth and final year to film this newspaper up to 1970.