[JennaWren Posts: 1,850 Status: Offline WWW]

Back when I was a young 'un and researching for school projects, there was this old-fashioned method of storing old newspapers, etc., called microfilm (microfiche?).  Now, being that I'm like a thousand years old and it's been a really, really long time since I had to research something at the library (hello, Google + books), I need your help.  Where would a kid today find such things archived in the library?  Say, a local/regional newspaper from the early 1900s or something?  Assume that this kid does not have home access to the internet.  Also, would it be common for a local history museum (town archives) to store material in the same way?

Cluelessly yours.....

[dinalapomy101 Posts: 1,914 Status: Offline Happy writing to all! WWW]

Our central library downtown is digitizing (scanning) all the old hard copy newspapers. You can go to the library's local history division to see them. They may eventually be available as images online for library patrons. (Log in with a library card.)

But many libraries who haven't digitized yet/ever still have microfiche (but it is EXPENSIVE to buy).

[Grady Hendrix]

It all depends on the library. A lot of smaller libraries have scanned rare books and public records to make them more accessible, and there are several newspapers that, back in the 90's, put out CD-ROMS of their older editions that some libraries bought. Amateur scanning is rare for newspapers simply because they're a very strange size and won't fit on a scanner bed very easily. Also, given the fact that most newspapers have online archives, it makes it a little redundant. However, most newspapers don't have anything online pre-1990's, and almost none have anything online pre-1980's. If a library had mircofilm or microfiche readers and a lot of material in that format, they probably aren't throwing them out since they're expensive to replace and much more comprehensive than online access.

A lot of libraries have subscriptions to Factiva, Lexis Nexis or some other privately-owned online research database.