(Oneida, NY – Jan. 2016) It’s a modest start, with only four reels, but it’s the beginning of Oneida Public Library’s long-term project to digitize its microfilm collection of 19th-century Oneida and Madison County newspapers, special censuses and directories and make them available online.
In an arrangement with Advantage Preservation out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the OPL has had the first four reels digitized and their pages posted on its own Advantage web site as PDFs, complete with a sophisticated keyword search and copying/downloading capability. The initial run covers the library holdings on microfilm of the weekly “Oneida Sachem” (June 24, 1854 to May 29, 1862) and the weekly “Oneida Telegraph” (Oct. 25, 1851 to Oct. 9, 1852).
The Digital Archives of the Oneida Public Library web site can be accessed via the OPL’s web site (www.midyork.org/oneida). Advantage Preservation recommends access through Firefox, Chrome or Explorer browsers.
The Friends of the Oneida Public Library will be making it possible for the OPL to build up its online digital archive through annual donations derived from the proceeds of the Friends’ book sales. Overall, the OPL intends to digitize some 80 reels of 19th-century local history materials and make them available at its online Digital Archive.
For more information about the newspaper digitization project, contact Tom Murray at the Oneida Library, 220 Broad St., or by phone at 315-363-3050.