Readex Expands World Newspaper Archive to Cover Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe

Joint effort with Center for Research Libraries helps create the largest online archive of historical international newspapers

JANUARY 20, 2009 (NAPLES, FL) – Readex, a division of NewsBank, announces plans to add three new collections to the World Newspaper Archive: African Newspapers, Slavic & East European Newspapers and South Asian Newspapers. Along with the recently released Latin American Newspapers, these three new historical newspaper collections will further the company’s mission to create the largest and most valuable online archive of fully searchable international newspapers for research across many academic disciplines.

Created in partnership with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL)—one of the world’s largest and most important newspaper repositories—the World Newspaper Archive will provide students, teachers and scholars with landmark access to historical newspapers published in Africa, Europe, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions.

“Readex is pleased to be working with CRL to create this uniquely comprehensive online resource,” says David Braden, president of Readex. “Ideal for students, teachers and scholars around the globe, the World Newspaper Archive can be cross-searched with America’s Historical Newspapers for unprecedented coverage of the people and events that have shaped world history.”

Together, the new collections will feature titles from Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe; Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and other countries in the region; and India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Published in English and a variety of other languages, these historical newspapers—carefully selected by CRL and its partners—chronicle the history, politics and daily lives of a variety of people and cultures during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative updates, letters, poetry, advertisements, matrimony and death notices and more, they offer fresh perspectives on local, national and global issues.

“The Center for Research Libraries and its partners are committed to providing sustainable access to a rich and diverse set of international scholarly resources,” says Bernard F. Reilly, president of the Center for Research Libraries. “CRL will provide for the archiving of the microform and digital content of the collection to ensure continuous long-term accessibility of those materials to the community.”

About the Center for Research Libraries
The Center for Research Libraries is an international partnership of over 240 universities, colleges and independent research libraries. CRL supports advanced research and learning in the humanities, sciences and social sciences by ensuring the survival and accessibility of source materials vital to those disciplines.

About Readex, a division of NewsBank
For more than 50 years, the Readex name has been synonymous with research in historical materials and government documents. Recognized by librarians, students and scholars for its efforts to transform academic scholarship, Readex offers a wealth of Web-based collections in the humanities and social sciences, including the Archive of Americana and the Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports.