We have been helping libraries digitize historic newspapers for over 10 years and we understand that the best measure of a successful digital newspaper collection is
patron engagement. We believe that building a digital newspaper collection is just the first step toward a long and rewarding relationship with the people who visit and interact with the collection. Helping libraries build patron engagement is at the top of our priority list. Here are the top 5 ways Veridian collections engage patrons:
1. Search Engine Optimization – Veridian collections are properly indexed to make sure they are easily discovered by Google and other search engines.
2. User Text Correction – Interest in crowdsourcing features, specifically user text correction, is growing rapidly among visitors to some Veridian collections. User text correction allows registered users to correct errors in the text as they come across them. Patrons improve the content of the collection for themselves and others and their efforts are promoted on a leader board on the home page of the collection.
For a number of collections, such as the
California Digital Newspaper Collection,
Cambridge Public Library,
Indiana Digital Historic Newspapers, and the
Library of Virginia, user text correction has helped establish a growing online patron community.
3. Tags and Comments – In addition to user text correction, patrons can add tags and comments to items in the newspaper collection. These become part of the searchable content, making it easier to discover content, especially non-text items such as photographs, charts and graphs, illustrated advertisements, etc.
4. Private Lists – This feature allows users to keep track of and organize items of interest right in the Veridian user interface, and to share interesting items with their social media networks.
5. Elephind – Elephind is a search engine specifically for digital newspaper collections. Using Elephind, a single search query is performed across all of the included digital newspaper collections at once. Adding Veridian digital newspaper collections to Elephind further increases exposure to and accessibility of the collection. Elephind currently indexes over 25 million newspaper pages (2,677 titles) and it will continue to grow as new collections are added.
