Research gone digital
Past editions of Red Oak Newspapers have now gone digital at the Red Oak Public Library.
Library director Kathi Most said the digital feature has been a dream of the library for as long as it has been available, and makes viewing old editions faster and easier for patrons.
“Before digital, the only way people could search the antique newspapers here at the library involved using the copy we had that was on microfilm. The searchable form is not only faster, but it also saves time, as it locates all of the information and brings it right to the person searching the papers. Patrons in the past had to put on several rolls and hope to find something on their subject by reading all of the paper,” said Most
The Red Oak Express’ past issues have all been digitalized, as well as several other historic Red Oak newspapers.
“The project allowed five newspapers to be digitalized. In addition to The Express, the others newspapers are The Montgomery County Independent, The Red Oak Independent, The Red Oak Republican, and The Red Oak Sun. Some of the papers only had a few years of microfilm, and or publication, but the years they covered are priceless for local history,” Most advised.
Most added the digital process was fairly easy. The company they used had the microfilm accessible to them, so all the library had to do was to acquire permission and funding, and handle a little technical work. Most said being able to preserve a piece of Red Oak’s history was very important.
“We are so excited to have the collection preserved and we were facing buying new equipment to use to access the microfilm, so this is helping in two ways.”
The generous support of grants and donors helped to make the project a reality.
“We are so fortunate to have such great support from grants and donors. This project would not have been possible without a generous grant from the Montgomery County Community Foundation HF 2302 Grant Fund. The remaining balance was paid with donations/memorial gifts,” Most advised.
According to Most, the response from patrons using the new digital system has been very positive.
“We have had several people try the new service. They all admit it is very fast and convenient compared to the old method. One of the library’s services is to help genealogists with the research for family trees. We get requests from all over the country almost daily and the digitalization makes our response to them so much faster,” commented Most.
Most said she and the other members of the library’s staff are very thankful for the cooperation of everyone involved and for the constant help and support of the library and its services.