1. 1 Australian newspaper digitisation program Bronwyn Lee National Library of Australia Presentation to 13 th IASI World Congress – 13 March 2009 Sports information in Australian historic newspapers

2. 2 Beta service at http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au Beta service at http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au

3. 3

4. 4 3 August 1936 4 August 1936

5. 5 5 August 1936

6. 6 6 August 1936 7 August 1936

7. 7 8 August 1936 10 August 1936

8. 8 11 August 1936 12 August 1936

9. 9 13 August 1936 14 August 1936

10. 10 15 August 1936 17 August 1936

11. 11 18 August 1936

12. 12 Editorial 18 August 1936

13. 13

14. 14 Increase access to Australian newspapers Increase access to Australian newspapers Build a national service that will provide free online access from the first Australian newspaper published in 1803 through to the end of 1954 Build a national service that will provide free online access from the first Australian newspaper published in 1803 through to the end of 1954 Key Features of the service Key Features of the service Online access Online access Freely available Freely available Full text searchable Full text searchable Objectives

15. 15 National Content Initial focus on major titles from each state and territory Initial focus on major titles from each state and territory Anticipate that ‘regional’ titles may be contributed later Anticipate that ‘regional’ titles may be contributed later Coverage: published between 1803 – 1954 Coverage: published between 1803 – 1954 (out of copyright) West Australian Northern Territory Times Courier Mail Advertiser Sydney Morning Herald Sydney Gazette Argus Mercury Canberra Times

16. 16 $1 Million Grant from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation to digitise The Sydney Morning Herald to 1954 $1 Million Grant from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation to digitise The Sydney Morning Herald to 1954

17. 17 1.8 million newspaper pages digitised from microfilm 1.8 million newspaper pages digitised from microfilm Australian Newspapers beta service publicly available in July 2008 Australian Newspapers beta service publicly available in July 2008 Currently 360,000 pages consisting of 3.5 million articles from 26 newspaper titles Currently 360,000 pages consisting of 3.5 million articles from 26 newspaper titles Progress…

18. 18 Identify and locate selected newspaper microfilm Identify and locate selected newspaper microfilm

19. 19 Processing in India

20. 20 Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of pages and article zoning

21. 21 Beta service: ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/homendpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

22. 22

23. 23 Search Activity 2.5 million keyword searches 2.5 million keyword searches Up to 28,000 searches per day Up to 28,000 searches per day + Unknown amount of browsing by date, title, state, category. + Unknown amount of browsing by date, title, state, category.

24. 24 User Interaction 2.2 million lines of OCR corrected 2.2 million lines of OCR corrected 104,000 articles corrected 104,000 articles corrected 43,000 tags added 43,000 tags added 1,800 comments added 1,800 comments added Top corrector 103,000 lines in 2,600 articles Top corrector 103,000 lines in 2,600 articles Correction 24 hrs a day/7 days a week. Correction 24 hrs a day/7 days a week. Peaks at 3pm and 9pm Peaks at 3pm and 9pm

25. 25 Users Registered login is optional Registered users 3,000 Registered users 3,000 Unique visitors 205,000 Unique visitors 205,000 75% of users in Australia 75% of users in Australia Average time on beta = 15 mins Average time on beta = 15 mins

26. 26 Questions Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/ Australian Newspapers beta service http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/