News media digitisation at the National Library of South Africa

Abstract

An overview will be given of the development of digitisation services at the NLSA.The purpose of digitisation is to preserve materials significant to South African heritage and also to provide access to such materials for research purposes and as well as access to the general public. Digitisation is inherently part of the NLSA mandate to protect and preserve South Africa published heritage. Collections that were selected for digitisation covered a wide range of collections including newspapers, manuscripts, maps, negatives, photographs and drawings. The Reprographic & Digital Services Section is operated at both campuses of the NLSA in Pretoria and Cape Town. Digitisation policy development was driven by the Department of Arts and Culture. A draft digitisation policy of the NLSA will be discussed. Reference will be made to a case study of digitising a selection of South African historical newspaper titles.