An issue of The Carolinian (Raleigh) newspaper from November 6, 1948.

It’s time to announce our annual round of microfilmed newspaper digitization! As in previous years, we’re asking cultural heritage institutions in North Carolina to nominate papers from their communities to be digitized. We’re especially interested in:

• newspapers covering underrepresented regions or communities, and
• newspapers that are not currently available in digital form elsewhere online.

If your institution is in one of these counties, please consider nominating! These are counties that currently have little content represented on DigitalNC. Bertie, Bladen, Camden, Caswell, Clay, Gates, Hoke, Jones, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Swain, Tyrrell.

If you’re interested in nominating a paper and you work at a cultural heritage institution that qualifies as a partner, here’s what to do:

• Check out our criteria for selecting newspapers, listed below.
• Verify that the newspaper you’d like to see digitized exists on microfilm. Email us (digitalnc@unc.edu) if you’re not sure.
• Be prepared to talk with the rights holder(s) to gain written permission to digitize the paper and share it online. We can give you advice on this part, if needed.
• Send us an email with the name of the newspaper you would like to nominate, along with your priority years for scanning. Please talk briefly about how the paper and your institution meet the criteria below.

Nominations will be taken on an ongoing basis, however don’t wait! We typically get many more requests than we can accommodate. Please contact us at digitalnc@unc.edu with questions. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Criteria for Selecting Newspapers to Digitize from Microfilm

Titles to be digitized will be selected using the following criteria:

• Does the newspaper document traditionally underrepresented regions or communities?
• Does the newspaper include significant coverage of the local community or largely syndicated content?
• Does the newspaper come from an area of the state that has little representation on DigitalNC? (Titles that have not previously been digitized will be given priority. Here’s a title list and a map showing coverage.)
• Are the images on microfilm legible, or is it difficult to read the text?
• Is the institution willing to obtain permission from the current publisher or rights holder(s) to digitize issues and make them freely available online?
• If the newspaper is selected for digitization, will the nominating institution promote the digital project through programs and announcements?

*Updated 8/9/2019 to add county list.