Photos by Chris Meyer Cecile Jagodzinski (left), director of collection development, and Jacob Nadal, head of the Craig Preservation Laboratory, look over issues of the Indianapolis News stacked in storage at the Herman B Wells Library. A collection of issues of the Indianapolis News dating back to 1869 are being processed for storage by Herman B Wells Library employees.

Issues of the Indianapolis News dating back to 1869 were moved from Indianapolis to Bloomington during the week of Aug. 8. The newspapers are a gift from the Indiana State Library to IU. The run of newspapers is the most complete known to exist for this publication and includes the last remaining copies of dozens of issues.

"When we were talking about getting this gift, I looked it up in WorldCat; it looks like this is really the biggest run of print Indiana papers left in the world. Even the Library of Congress doesn't have anything like this, they have a few scattered issues, but not a complete run (of Indiana newspapers)," said Cecile Jagodzinski, director of collection development and digital scholarship at IU Libraries.

Before Jagodzinski and her staff begin the cataloging process, the condition of the newspapers will be evaluated by the staff at the library's preservation laboratory.

Jacob Nadal, head of the preservation lab, said newsprint is acidic and has poor fiber content. The combination means the Indianapolis News collection most likely is in poor condition. However, for a newsprint collection, decay is typical. The newspapers, published from 1869 to 1999, are currently bound in oversized volumes or bundled together and wrapped in protective paper.

Nadal's staff of preservationists will begin working on getting the newspaper pages in order and out of the binding. The next step will include constructing protective boxes to keep the papers together. The boxes also will act as an environmental barrier, easing further decay and help stabilize the acidity. Since the library already has Microfilm versions of the newspapers, priority won't be given to preserving individual pages. Instead, Nadal said, select pages may receive special attention and preservation.

"We might take a front page that has historical importance, say a story on Herman B Wells or a map of Indiana that doesn't exist anyplace else, we would do a one page restoration," said Nadal, adding that restoration efforts for newsprint presents too much time and effort since the paper is already quite weak and yellowed.

IU Libraries will then house the newspapers in its climate-controlled Ruth Lilly Auxiliary Library Facility, located in Bloomington and kept at a constant 50 degrees and 30 percent relative humidity.

"Preserving and providing access to research materials is what we do as a research library," said Suzanne Thorin, Ruth Lilly University Dean of University Libraries. "In this case, because the materials have such interest to the state, our obligation is even stronger."

Although access to the content of the newspapers has long been available at IU on microform, there is no substitute for the original artifact. Researchers--and the general public--will be able to view the newspapers at IU or they may request digital images captured on-site and sent electronically.

Jagodzinski will work toward developing policy for access. "We want to make it accessible. We are expecting to get users from across Indiana. (At the Indiana State Library), the newspapers have been used by people that don't want to look at microforms, by people that want to look at real pictures," she said.

All Hoosiers may use the materials of the IU Libraries and the Indiana State Library. The IU Libraries system across the state offers more than seven million bound volumes and 26 million other materials. The Indiana State Library is the largest repository of Indiana newspapers in the world, with almost 80,000 reels of microfilmed newspapers available for use on-site or through interlibrary loan.

Editor's note: The "Indianapolis News" collection is a gift from the Indiana State Library to IU to recognize the contributions of Suzanne Thorin, IU's departing dean of libraries. In 2004, Thorin received the Indiana State Library's Synergy Award for her outstanding efforts to further the partnership and collaboration between the university and the Indiana State Library.