All About Newspapers

Newspapers: moving towards digital preservation

Digital preservation is a challenge which all major newspaper organizations and libraries are facing these days. What should be the future course of action for these organizations, was a major issue of discussion at IFLA International Newspaper Conference 2010.

he International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) International Newspaper Conference 2010 on the theme of ‘Digital preservation and access to news and views’ was recently hosted by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi during February 25 – 28, 2010. The conference as usual comprised of an inaugural session, one special session, seven technical sessions and two panel discussions, plus a valedictory session.

Dr Ramesh C Gaur, conference director, librarian & head-Kala Nidhi, IGNCA spoke about the importance and relevance of the conference and how the outcome of the conference can benefit various media organisations and libraries. While introducing the conference, Frederick Zarndt, chairman, IFLA Newspapers Section, briefed its role and outlined the objectives of the conference. In his special address Prof. Joytindra Jain, member secretary, IGNCA Trust, spoke about importance and power of knowledge as it empowers everyone and how the knowledge can be shared by news organisations, effectively for the betterment of the society.

The keynote address on the topic ‘Newspaper resources in transition: digital preservation and access’ was delivered by Reinhard Altenhoener, head, IT department, German National Library. In his thought provoking talk, he reiterated the importance of newspapers as historical and cultural resources and why and how they need to be preserved for the use of future generations. The inaugural function came to a close with a formal vote of thanks proposed by Dharam Vir, chief librarian, Hindustan Times.

Technical sessions were held on sub-themes like Physical preservation of newspapers, Preservation of newspapers: policy perspectives, Digitization of newspapers, Digital preservation of traditional and born digital newspapers, Access to online newspapers , How newspapers are used as digital resource for offering 24 x 7 library services, and Access to news and views.

In the first panel discussion held on the theme ‘Relevance of news-clippings in digital era’ which was chaired by professor PB Mangla, after some thought provoking discussions and deliberations, all the eminent panelists strongly felt the continued relevance of the press clippings services in the digital era. One of the outcome of the panel discussion was that as the users community’s information seeking pattern in newspapers’ organisations are constantly changing, the newspaper libraries must understand such needs and offer value-added services, including digital clippings’ services and other online services to remain relevant in the future.

In the second panel discussion held on the theme ‘Centralized preservation and access to news & views’ chaired by Dr HK Kaul, all the panelists emphasized the importance of the centralized preservation and providing access to news and views, in order to offer better services information user community, the journalists in specific and public in general at large.

Jawhar Sircar, secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, appreciated the relevance of the conference, in his valedictory address. He stressed upon the need for forming a professional body with all stakeholders involved in preservation and providing access of news resources by setting up national level standards and benchmarks for effectively utilization of various resources including grants and funds from government.

There were around forty presentations and talks delivered by eminent speakers from India and abroad. The deliberation and discussions during the conference revolved around on issues such as, archival preservation and conservation of newspapers, policy issues and strategies, digital preservation of traditional and born digital newspapers, online newspaper, digital access to news and view, etc. The conference also has led to a number of recommendations for the future course of actions among the newspaper libraries. The important ones being to form a professionals forum for newspaper libraries in India to address their professional development needs; to come out with a state-of-the-art report on Newspaper Libraries in India and create a directory of global newspaper libraries, etc.

The conference was attended by over 220 delegates with speakers from about ten countries including participation from leading national libraries and newspaper libraries and archives from USA, UK, France, Germany, Finland, Australia, South Africa and Singapore.

Another newspaper relies on Mitsubishi

itsubishi Heavy Industries recently announced a contract signing with the Saga Shimbun Company Ltd for the purchase of its 4 x 1 newspaper offset press DIAMONDSPIRIT. The press is scheduled for delivery in early 2011 and will be used for production of the publisher’s flagship daily, The Saga Shimbun.

The Mitsubishi 4 x 1 DIAMONDSPIRIT press for the Saga Shimbun Company is rated at 80,000 cph with a cutoff of 546mm (21.5 in) and a web width of 1,626mm (60 in). The press will be configured with two 4/4 tower printing units, two 2/1 tower printing units, one 2:2 double rotary folder and four reelstands. It will be operated by the Mitsubishi press control system with automated features that include colour register control, ink presetting with CtP interface, and DIAMOND EYE Jr – the newly developed colour quality defect detection system, which can be readily upgraded to the automatic closed-loop colour control system DIAMOND EYE at any time.

Established in 1884, the Saga Shimbun Company operates from one plant located in Saga City where its 140,000 weekday circulation is printed on a single 4 x 2 press for distribution throughout the prefecture. With its investment in the Mitsubishi 4 x 1 press DIAMONDSPIRIT, they will be able to provide their readers and subscribers the latest news and local stories in more vivid colours, mirroring the prefecture’s famous porcelain ware.