An exciting project for 2017 is underway in the Archives. Jim Sova, a dedicated volunteer, has been hard at work preparing parts of the microfilmed newspaper collection for digitization. The Napanee Express (1862-1951) and The Napanee Standard (1855-1866) are slated for phase one of the project. The goal is to have as many issues as possible searchable by keyword.

The process behind such a project is not easy or simple. The newspapers are on microfilm reels or microfiche and are converted to a digital image sing one of the Archive's microfilm scanners. The equipment also includes software to convert the image to text. Getting the text recognition to a high level (85 to 90% of the words spelled correctly) has taken some trial and error, but a process is now in place and the first newspapers are being converted. The resulting files are .pdf multi-page documents with embedded text where a search for a keyword takes you to the text location(s) in the document.

Keep checking here over the next few months for  updates to this exciting new project!