Who can participate?

How much does it cost?

I have paper copies of my newspaper, how much will it cost for it to be microfilmed?

How can I find out where the master reel of my newspaper title is held?

Can you digitize my newspaper title from the reels in our library?

Can you digitize my newspaper title from the paper copy?

My newspaper is in paper format, so we are having it microfilmed by TSLAC. What happens to the master reel created from the newspaper?

How much storage space will the first phase of the NDNP program require?

Who can participate? Anyone can participate. If a newspaper title exists only on paper, as a first step it will be microfilmed. If a microfilm master exists, its quality will need to be assessed to determine whether it is suitable for digitization. Please contact us about your project.

How much does it cost? All of the newspapers we digitize will meet the national standards set by Library of Congress. There are four elements to the cost of the project:

  1. microfilming from paper (if needed, see next question)
  2. obtaining a silver negative duplicate reel from the master microfilm reel. The cost varies depending on who owns the original. If TSLAC can duplicate the reel the cost is $22.45/reel for duplication. If a commercial microfilming vendor holds the master reels, the cost to get duplicates is whatever they charge, typically $90-150/reel. UNT has lists of the locations of many newspaper master reels.
  3. the cost for us to digitize a newspaper from a silver negative duplicate reel and host it online at the Portal to Texas history is $1.03/page.
  4. the cost to purchase enough 1TB hard drives to ship the data and images from the vendor. Cost for one 1 TB LaCie hard drive is currently $120, but the price has been coming down over time.
  5. all shipping costs associated with the process.

I have paper copies of my newspaper, how much will it cost for it to be microfilmed TSLAC, a partner for the Texas Digital Newspaper Program is the vendor we use for microfilming newspapers. In most cases, the newspaper will be microfilmed two-up comic style. As an example, this means that a ten page newspaper will require six microfilm images. The cost is .25/microfilm image, plus $8 processing per 100′ reel. Typically, about 800 microfilm images will fit on a reel. The cost to purchase a silver negative duplicate is $22.45/reel, and a use copy is $13.35/reel. Download the TSLAC documents on imaging-fees, on preparing paper copies for microfilming, and the TSLAC transmittal form.

Comic two up format for microfilming

How can I find out where the master reel of my newspaper title is held? We have lists of microfilm titles from several places, so email us and we can check for you.

Can you digitize my newspaper title from the reels in our library? No. If you have a use copy that has been out for use by patrons, it will not be suitable for digitization. We need a pristine silver negative copy from the master reel to obtain a good OCR result. If you have the master reels,  TSLAC can duplicate them for $22.45 per reel.

Can you digitize my newspaper title from the paper copy? We can, but it will cost more than microfilming it first. The vendor we selected to digitize from the microfilm designed their workflow around scanning from microfilm. They can work with paper copies, but since it involves a lot more work for them, the cost is .30/page higher. It is less expensive to microfilm first. Also, from a preservation viewpoint, microfilming the paper makes good sense because the title is then stored in another place in another format.

My newspaper is in paper format, so we are having it microfilmed by TSLAC. What happens to the master reel created from the newspaper? The microfilm masters created through the Texas Digital Newspaper Program will reside with the Center for American History at UT. The Center for American History has the facilities to protect these valuable resources, namely cold-storage vaults designed for long-term microfilm storage. Also, there is a lot of value in keeping these masters with a public institution. The Center’s Newspaper Collections contain more than 4,500 Texas, Southern, U.S., and non-U. S. titles and is the largest collection of its kind in Texas.

How much storage space will the first phase of the NDNP program require?

  • 1 page – 64MB
  • 1 issue (8 pages) = 512 MB
  • 100,000 pages = 6.1 TB
  • 6.1 TB = 9137 cds
  • 6.1 TB = 1357 dvds

And by the way, we are not using cds and dvds for our storage, the numbers above are provided just to illustrate the large volume of storage involved.