Getting the Latest Scoop: A New Tool to Expand Access to Online Newspaper Collections

FAIN: PR-284385-22

University of Oregon (Eugene, OR 97403-5219)
Sarah Seymore (Project Director: May 2021 to May 2023)
Julia Simic (Project Director: May 2023 to present)

The expansion of Open ONI, a collection of open-source, collaboratively developed newspaper-hosting software, that will make digitally accessible many kinds of serial publications, such as periodicals, born-digital news, and serials published after 1963.

The changing preservation and maintenance landscape for digital newspapers necessitates an innovative, customizable, and lightweight technical solution to support local newspaper digitization and preservation programs. The University of Oregon Libraries, in partnership with the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, seeks funding to expand on the impact of the National Digital Newspaper Program by enhancing the existing software for better distribution and easier adoption by managers and curators of digital and born-digital newspapers. This project addresses the gaps in the currently-available systems by creating an open-source alternative to vendor systems or other shared digital collections repositories, and to continue expanding the Open ONI partnership and initiative to better serve institutions that want an easily-deployable and maintainable website for their digital newspaper collections.