4 Reasons your City Archives should digitize old newspapers and photographs

We think you’ll agree that our history is precious. The best way to ensure things like old newspapers and photographs are protected for future generations is to professionally scan these delicate documents.

Here are 4 reasons your city archives should digitize old newspapers and photographs

1. Creates a searchable index. When it comes to physical copies of newspapers and written documents, it’s next to impossible to organize physical copies so that every word is searchable. You’re really limited to a box and/or folders for organization. When these documents are scanned, however, we can use OCR (Optical Character Recognition), to turn the scanned text into a searchable database.
2. Safeguards contents from degradation. We all know that paper degrades over time. The paper itself may slowly disintegrate, or the ink may fade and become illegible. Digitizing these legacy documents into computer formats, gives the information and images a longer shelf life. This because digital information doesn’t degrade the same way physical paper does.
3. Saves valuable physical space. Perhaps you have storage closets full of boxed files and photographs. Maybe you have an entire room dedicated to these boxes and maybe these boxes line your hallways. Get back your valuable and expensive office space by digitizing the records so you can move our originals to a secure off-site location. Or, destroy them once they are professionally digitized.
4. Gives opportunity to enhance quality. Computer technology allows you the opportunity to restore old documents, newspapers, and photographs to their former (or better than former) glory. When digitized, you can enhance sections that have faded. You can also colour correct old photographs that are not as vibrant as they could be.

If you are a City Archive, or your business or organization has important, delicate historical documents and photographs you want to preserve for these, or any other reasons, contact the document scanning team at Micro Com Systems.