The Northern Star digitization project, an effort to convert print issues from 1899 to 1997 to a digital format, has been delayed again.

The Northern Star digitization process has been an ongoing project at the Founders Memorial Library with the goal of providing easier access to Northern Star records.

The project, proposed in 2019 and originally slated for completion in 2023, was delayed last year due to the discontinuation of the old digital collection platform used by NIU, Drupal 7.

All existing news clippings uploaded to the previous platform are currently being converted into the new platform, Drupal 10, which started being used three weeks ago. So far, the project team has converted 2,043 issues in total.

But many challenges need to be overcome in the process of digitization, such as gaps within the microfilm holdings.

“Some issues are missing, some entire volumes are missing, we even have some coupons clipped out of some issues, so that leaves some gaps within pages,” said Associate Professor and the Head of Technical Services Matthew Short.

Funding later editions is another challenge faced by the team. When using a high resolution camera to process text and images from the hard copies of the text, the team is able to extract the news stories onto microfilm and transport it to the digital library.

Without the go-ahead from the university, though, the later issues won’t be processed.

“Once we figure out what’s already been scanned, we have to go back and figure out where the gaps are,” Short said.

While the goal to fully digitize the files may take up to several more years, the staff believes it will have a big impact on record organization.

“The university really needs to think about digital preservation toward its digital heritage and history,” Bradley Wiles said, the head of the special collections and archives department.

The team expects to have most of the data transferred to the new platform soon.

“The plan is to get all the files up to 1975 online by Homecoming Week,” Short said.