News archive 2001-2006
August 2006
Guide to Scottish Newspaper
Indexes
An online guide is now available for indexes to Scottish
Newspapers. This has details of Scottish newspaper titles that have
been indexed, and includes the type of index, the dates covered and
the holding locations for the indexes. Printed, electronic and
web-based indexes are all included and it is searchable by title of
the paper, place and keyword. The guide has been developed by
NEWSPLAN Scotland in collaboration with Scottish local libraries.
See the Guide
to Scottish Newspaper Indexes.
December 2005
Indexes to newspapers
project
A project to provide a list of Indexes to Scottish newspapers held
in Scottish libraries is now underway at the National Library of
Scotland. The information is being collated through collaboration
with local libraries and it is hoped that a searchable list will be
published on the NLS website next year. This will be a useful
resource for anyone consulting or researching local Scottish
newspapers.
August 2005
The NEWSPLAN2000 Project came officially to an end on 31 July 2005. The Project successfully achieved its aims and objectives to preserve local historic newspapers and to make the content widely available in local libraries. Scotland received around a third of the total number of microfilms produced and these are now available in local libraries as well as the National Library of Scotland.
June 2005
Microfilm reading equipment
A total of 76 microfilm readers and 27 microfilm reader printers
have now been delivered in Scotland to the libraries who
participated in the NEWSPLAN2000 Project. Full details on the
locations of the equipment and specifications of the machines can
be found on the
NEWSPLAN2000 web page.
January 2005
Delivery of microfilm reading
equipment
Following the announcement in November 2004 that Kodak UK had been
appointed as the supplier for this, a weekly delivery schedule has
been drawn up and microfilm readers and reader-printers are now
being supplied to local authority libraries. Delivery is expected
to continue through to March 2005. Further information on the
allocation of equipment and delivery can be found by checking the
NEWSPLAN 2000 Project website.
December 2004
Filming completed
The filming for the NEWSPLAN 2000 Project has now been
successfully completed. In all, 618 Scottish newspaper titles have
been preserved and 9,820 reels of microfilm are being delivered to
libraries across Scotland and the National Library of Scotland. A
total of 1,350 titles and 30,500 reels of microfilm have been
produced for the whole of the United Kingdom. Full details can be
found on the
NEWSPLAN 2000 Project website.
November 2004
>Equipment Contract
Announced
On 1 November 2004 the Project Office announced that Kodak (UK)
Ltd has been appointed as the supplier to NEWSPLAN 2000 for
microfilm reading equipment. The tender with Kodak covers the
supply of microfilm reader-printers and microfilm readers to
libraries across the UK. Full details of the specification of the
equipment and the procurement contract can be found on the
NEWSPLAN 2000 Project website.
September 2004
Filming of Scottish Titles
At this stage in the Project over 80% of the filming of titles for
Scotland has been completed amounting to 8,260 reels of microfilm.
Full details of the titles can be found on the schedule page of the
Project website.
July 2004
Microfilm Reading Equipment
The Project Office have announced that the tender for the supply
of microfilm reading equipment has now commenced. Full details of
this are available on the Project website. Microfilm readers will
be available for all libraries participating in the Project.
June 2004
Extension for Filming
Contract
The Project Office have announced that the filming contractor
Microformat have been granted an extension of six months to allow
completion of filming for NEWSPLAN 2000. A total of 30,000 reels of
microfilm will be produced for the whole of the United Kingdom and
the Project will now run until January 2005.
April 2004
Results of Second Newsplan
Survey
The second survey of use of historic newspapers on microfilm was
carried out by NEWSPLAN Scotland in libraries throughout Scotland
in January 2004. The completed questionnaires have now been
analysed and the full results are now available to download or read
on-line. Survey
results.
February 2004
Completed Scottish Titles
To the end of January 2004 the NEWSPLAN 2000 Project has preserved
a total of 304 Scottish newspaper titles amounting to 5174 reels of
microfilm. Details of the titles can be found on the schedule page
of the
Project website.
December 2003
Second NEWSPLAN Survey
The second national NEWSPLAN survey of use of historic newspapers
on microfilm will be carried out early in 2004. All libraries will
once again be invited to take part by encouraging anyone reading
newspapers on microfilm to complete a questionnaire. The national
results of the last survey for all 10 NEWSPLAN regions can be
viewed on the British Library
Concord site.
November 2003
Publicity
Good publicity is particularly important to NEWSPLAN and everyone
who is receiving microfilms in Scotland should consider contacting
their local papers to ask them to help to publicise the project.
Draft press releases are available to download from the
project website.
October 2003
Completed Titles
A total of 191 Scottish newspaper titles have now been
successfully preserved by the project amounting to 3294 reels of
microfilm. A full list of these can be found on the schedule page
of the
NEWSPLAN 2000 Project website.
July 2003
Financial Support for Filming Scottish
Titles
The Project Office are pleased to report that the Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation have granted the NEWSPLAN 2000 Project funds
which will be used towards the filming of some Scottish newspapers
from the 19th century. NEWSPLAN Scotland are extremely
grateful to the Foundation for this generous donation. Further
information on the Foundation can be found on the Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation website.
June 2003
Completed Titles
The Project Office have confirmed that, to 30 June 2003, 8 titles
for Scotland have now been filmed totaling 127 reels of microfilm.
A list detailing these can be found on the schedule page on the
NEWSPLAN2000 Project website.
May 2003
Microfilming Schedule
The microfilming schedule for May 2003 has now been confirmed and
contains titles to be filmed for Scotland. Summer schedules have
also been revised.
March 2003
Microfilming Schedule
The microfilming schedule has been adjusted by the Project Office
to take account of the current production of microfilms by
Microformat. Titles for Scotland now appear from April 2003 and can
be viewed on the revised schedule on the
NEWSPLAN 2000 Project website.
February 2003
Price Increases
The NEWSPLAN 2000 Project Office have announced price increases
for purchasing additional reels of microfilm.
Full announcement (download in pdf format).
December 2002
Report of Seminar
The second NEWSPLAN Scotland Seminar took place on 12 November
2002 and was attended by NEWSPLAN participants from all around
Scotland. The full
report is now available to download in pdf format.
October 2002
NEWSPLAN Scotland - Seminar
The second Scottish NEWSPLAN Seminar will be held at the National
Library of Scotland on Tuesday 12 November 2002. This will focus on
the preparation and servicing of locally held newspaper titles
which will be filmed through the project. Further information on
this event can be found in NEWSPLAN
Scotland News Issue 5.
September 2002
Microfilming schedule - Scottish
titles
The microfilming schedule has now been made up to June 2003 and a
number of Scottish titles have been included. This is available to
read or download from the
NEWSPLAN 2000 Project website under the link to microfilming
schedule.
July 2002
Article - Scottish Libraries
An article on the progress of NEWSPLAN Scotland has appeared in
Volume 27, No.1, Issue 2, 2002 of 'Scottish Libraries - The Journal
of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
in Scotland'. This is available to download in pdf format: 'Newsplan Scotland: Bringing the
News Home'.
April 2002
External assessor appointed
The National Library of Scotland has been appointed as the
external assessor for the first 18 months of the NEWSPLAN Project.
Films provided by Microformat, the sole contractor for the project,
will be checked to ensure standards and quality meet the guidelines
set by the Project Office. The National Library of Wales will take
over as assessor for the remainder of the project.
October 2001
Microfilming Contractor
Named
Microformat Uk Ltd have successfully won the contract for filming
newspapers for the NEWSPLAN 2000 Project. The company have more
than 28 years of experience in this specialised field and have an
established customer base in the United Kingdom. Filming will be
carried out at their premises in Rochester, Kent and is expected to
commence in March 2002.