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While current editions of newspapers are readily available on the Web, archives are not. Many papers are ephemeral and disappear without a trace once the new edition appears. Other papers offer archives, either free or one at a time is so time-consuming that professional researchers continue to rely on the traditional services for their archive collections. NewsLibrary (http://www.newslibrary.com), an online archive devoted exclusively to newspaper and newswire research, bridges the gap between the traditional services and the Web.
NewsLibrary has an interesting history. Remember VU/TEXT, that wonderful newspaper archive service we used and loved until it was discontinued to outside subscribers in the early 1990s? Well, NewsLibrary is VU/TEXT reincarnated on the Web. VU/TEXT itself began i n1978 when the Philadelphia newspapers (Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News) began to store their archives in a computer database.
This internal database was so successful that in 1982 it was offered on an experimental basis to a selected group of outside subscribers. More and more newspapers were added, and VU/TEXT continued to maintain electronic newspaper libraries for inhouse use and market their archives to outsiders, both of which businesses continue to this day. In 1996, MediaStream (the Knight-Ridder company formed from the merger of VU/TEXT and PressLink) launched NewsLibrary and made the archives Web accessible.
Some of you may have used NewsLibrary through InfiNet, which originally provided the Web hosting, billing, and customer service for NewsLibrary. As of June 1999, MediaStream took over customer support and, in September, began hosting NewsLibrary.com and handling its billing. InfiNet continues to host the Web sites for all individual KnightRidder papers.
EXTENSIVE NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES
NewsLibrary has searchable archives for 73 daily U.S. and 5 Canadian papers, plus the wires of Scripps-Howard News Service and the Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. Some go back as far as 1978 (Philadelphia Daily News). In addition, there are links to the archives of the Hartford Courant, Washington Post, and Santa Rosa Press Democrat, which must be searched individually at their own Web sites. Bloomington Pantagraph and Worcester Telegraph were promised for the end of November, but were still not up as of mid-April 2000. According to a NewsLibrary spokesman, difficulties occurred when loading the Palm Beach paper, but it should be online by the end of December.
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