10 September 2007: Offering a closer peek at the past
Papers Past http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz is an online resource of 19th-century New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. From the New Zealand Advertiser and Bay of Islands Gazette in Northland to the Mataura Ensign in Southland, featured publications offer an insight into life as our ancestors knew it.
Now, the National Library is heralding a new feature that allows website visitors the option of full text searching for many of the publications. In time, the entire collection of digitised newspapers will have the search facility as well as the existing access through browsing by newspaper title and date.
"The new text search tool will enhance research potential and create a better user experience," said Penny Carnaby, Chief Executive and National Librarian. "Papers Past is one of our most popular websites. Creating better access really opens its contents for the benefit of national and international researchers with an interest in New Zealand."
Feedback received via the existing Papers Past website often comments upon the desirability of search functionality, which is highly rated by the user community.
A new interface has been developed by National Library staff to provide more user-friendly access to all the titles.
At its launch in 2001, the Papers Past website carried 300,000 digitised pages of New Zealand newspapers held in the Alexander Turnbull Library collection. Each year, new pages have been added and today, the site features more than one million digitised pages from 44 publications.
Papers Past, which offers visitors the option of browsing the site in Māori, has been enthusiastically received by a range of users from family historians to graphic designers and students of New Zealand history.
Steve Knight, Manager of the Innovation Centre, said the renovation of Papers Past had been a project with a very high level of complexity. Its successful outcome compared well with similar newspaper digitisation projects worldwide.
The National Library regularly adds new titles to the website while seeking to fill any gaps in existing titles. Eventually, all content will be fully searchable.
For more information, please contact
Serene Ambler
Communications Adviser
t. +64 4 474 3092
f. +64 4 474 3011
Serene.ambler@natlib.govt.nz
