Quick and Dirty Guide to Microfilm Digitization Companies

The content on this list is derived from e-mails, phone conversations, web sites and printed marketing materials. Evaluation of the quality of finished product (design, interface, retrieval etc.) are not included in this guide. Listed alphabetically are only the companies which either responded to my Newslib email or were referred by other Newslibbers. Data was gathered November 2002-February 2003.
AUGUST 2008 NOTE: These companies have not been updated, but additional names have been added at the end of the list.

These companies all scan and convert newspaper from microfilm using various OCR and other techniques with different levels of refinement, and many have an aggregate product in which your newspaper participates. If there’s no aggregation, they may offer hosting. Firms will want either a clean copy of your film (possible added expense) - or your masters - for scanning. Acquiring your microfilm business may be required.

This guide is not intended to be comprehensive; please see web sites or contact the vendor for more information.

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Company: Cold North Wind
Digitization of microfilm from newspapers and others; aggregate product, over 5M pages.
Product name: Paper of Record
Format: PDF
Level: Page
Notes:
Claims quick turnaround for production. Will "subsidize" cost of digitizing desirable early content; recoup costs from later royalties. Historical archive of US and Canadian newspapers dating back to 1700s.
Contact: coldnorthwind.com
In the US: David C. Macdonald, Executive Vice-President, Business Development
david.macdonald@coldnorthwind.com
2018 Powhatan Street, Falls Church, Virginia USA, 22043-1812
Phone 703-237-1048 Fax 703-241-4118
In Canada: 205 Catherine Street, Ottawa, Ontario Canada, K2P 1C3
Phone 613-722-9886 Fax 613-722-9236

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Company: Heritage Microfilm.
Microfilm production, distribution and storage; digitization from microfilm;
aggregate product, over 7M pages.
Product name: NewspaperARCHIVE.com.
Format: PDF
Level: Page
Notes: Time frame is 3 months for first 400,000-500,000 images; 2 months each batch after. Progressive royalties based on subscription sales from 25/75 (Heritage/Newspaper) up to 50/50. Heritage gets microfilm business.
Contact: newspaperarchive.com
Jeffery C. Kiley, Director of Sales, Heritage Microfilm. tim@newspaperarchive.com
Heritage Microfilm, 4049 21st Avenue SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
Phone 888-870-0484 extension 19 or 319-390-9442 extension 19 Fax 319-390-9448

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Company: Morris Digital Works
Division of Morris Communications Corporation, newspapers, newspaper software and systems; Internet-based products and services.
Product name: Digital Backfile
Format: PDF
Level: Page
Notes: Will do in batches. Price includes first year hosting and storage; e-commerce. 24x7x365 support. Newspaper receives 100% of revenue. After the first year, hosting and storage cost based on number of images and bandwidth usage. Can scan from Library of Congress film.
Contact: Morris.com, Morrisdigitalworks.com
Bill Ferguson, Business Development, Morris Digital Works
terps@morris.com
Phone 706-823-3610

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Company: Newsbank Inc.
Information providers whose resources include newspapers, newswires, business journals, historical and scholarly documents, periodicals and more, delivered to schools and libraries via Internet and CD-ROM. Microfilm/fiche production; web hosting and site maintenance; archives; e-commerce. Developing a microfilm digitization product in partnership with iArchive; launch first quarter 2003.
Product name: Product is still under development
Format: Looking at PDF, but has internal product that is Gif; testing that for newspapers
Level: Page or article level (with jumps)
Notes: Researched existing products as a customer, and used benchmarks to develop model.
Using iArchive technology and production resources, plans to offer page (hit highlighted) or article level; keying headline, byline and metadata; possible aggregate product; special collections; multiple gateways. Still in development.
Contact: http://www.newsbank.com
Tina M. Owens, Business Development Director, NewsBank Media Services
Phone 603-887-0800 Fax 603-887-0801 Cell: 603-490-4928

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Company: Olive Software
Microfilm production, distribution and storage; e-publishing of daily content; digitization from microfilm.
Product name: ActivePaper Archive
Format: XML
Level: Article, with copyright management.
Notes:
Delivers fully indexed archive ready for use as Intranet and Internet project. Pages viewed in original layout using web standard browser. Cites format as being more flexible than PDF. Will do scanning in batches; recommends ‘big hits’ first: Civil War, WWI, WWII, last 15 years
Contact: olivesoftware.com
Kim Dail, Vice President of Sales & Marketing; Olive Software;
kim@olivesoftware.com
Olive Software, 1642 South Parker Road, 2nd floor, Denver, Colorado 80231
Phone 720-747-1220 Fax 720-747-1217

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Company: Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. (PTFS)
Systems integration company that specializes in digital archiving, content digitization, and library services and solutions.
Product name: Back File Conversion and Archive Digitization Service
Format: PDF
Level: Page
Notes: ArchivalWare, PTFS' digital archiving software product, supports over 200 file formats. Offers wide range of image enhancement; can zone image to identify photos and text (elements on page). ArchivalWare is web-based digital asset management tool with full-text search and retrieval system.
Contact:
ptfs.com
John Yokley
jyokley@ptfs.com
Phone 301-654-8088 ext. 11
PTFS Inc., 7305 Waverly St., Bethesda, MD 20814
Phone 301-654-8088 Fax 301-654-5789

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Company: ProQuest Information and Learning
Microfilm production, distribution and storage; online ASCII content from newspapers; online ASCII and page image content from periodicals, journals and dissertations; special research collections on film and online; out of copyright books; Digital Vault aggregate product (digital collection of newspapers, periodicals, books.) Multiple millions of pages.
Product name: Historical Newspapers (one component of Digital Vault)
Format: PDF of article and page
Level: Article, with copyright management; jumps attached
Notes: * Plans for first quarter 2003 include lower-cost method of digitization. Can navigate between article, page map, page, abstract/citation; browse an edition; many other features.
Contact: il.proquest.com
Cliff Pierce, Director, Publisher Relations
cliff.pierce@il.proquest.com
Phone 405-752-1083 extension 101

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Company: Southwest Micropublishing, Inc. (SMI)
Microfilm and electronic asset management solutions: Microfilm production, distribution and storage and digitization from microfilm of newspaper, archives and artifacts; transcription services.
Product name: SMI NewsSearch
Format: PDF
Level: Page; can toggle to article
Notes: Scalable, turn-key solution Hit-highlighed; meta-tagging. Cites quick turnaround time; says low overhead allows for an economical price. SMI's software operates in conjunction with any standard internet browser to search for and locate PDF based archival images. Text-searchable PDF images and indices can be seamlessly integrated into any subscription or pay-per-view e-commerce platform.
Contact: www.swmicropublishing.com
Victor R. Rivera, President
sales@swmicropublishing.com
Southwest Micropublishing, Inc., 2627 E. Yandell Dr., El Paso, TX 79903
Phone 800-367-1273 Fax 915-562-4527

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ADDITIONAL COMPANIES (added 08/19/08):

The Crowley Company
Pressmart Media Ltd.


Archiving in News Libraries
SLA News Division Home

Last Update: 08/29/05
Linda S. Chapman, The Patriot Ledger
lchapman@ledger.com

Questions or comments contact Carolyn Edds at ufriverat@gmail.com
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