Local newspapers as a source for social research: Examples from Digital Collections of “Milutin Bojić” Library

Abstract

Local newspapers can offer a good material to social researches because the content it has. Social and cultural activities, everyday life, communal problems, etc. in local community creates a content of newspaper. Because of a localized editorial focus, researcher can better detect consequences of wider social circumstances, for example closing a company effect to local community, we can hear in news or read in bigger newspaper that the company is closed and that 1000 peoples left without job but in local media we can see how that community survive. That was the case 10 years before, now social networks do that. Before internet and social networks, local newspapers were a main source of information, if a researcher needs an information from 50 years ago, he needs to read it in newspaper.

Local libraries were a local information centers, local newspapers were, and still are, available there. Today, every information is available on internet, which can be a new perspective for a local public library, to digitize local newspapers and publish it online according to digitization and library’s standards and became important part of Digital Humanities.

“Milutin Bojić” Library used ResCarta Toolkit in a process of digitization of local heritage, and local newspapers were part of it. The benefits in using digitization tools for local newspapers are multiple for users and libraries.