For those who have been wondering what happened to the library’s microfilm, wonder no more. The microfilm was sent away to a company in Indiana to be digitized for easier use. We now have all of the newspapers that were previously available on microfilm available on computer files that are searchable by key word. The process, called OCR (optical character recognition), took about three months to complete, but it will make for much faster searching of old records for our genealogists and others interested in finding articles in old local newspapers. The files are grouped in the same way the microfilm rolls were grouped, which means there are approximately three months of newspapers in a file. The user can type in a name, or any key word, and the program will take you to the first instance of that word in the file. If that isn’t the reference you were looking for, just click and the program takes you to the next instance of that word and so on through the entire file.
The service is available at all four library locations in Pomeroy, Middleport, Racine and the Eastern Elementary school; however it cannot be used by library patrons from home. Users will no longer have to come to the main library in Pomeroy to make use of this service. Another plus of the digital files is that they can be used by more than one person at a time. No more waiting for one user to finish with their research before you have your chance at using the machine. Once you find the article you want, it can be printed or emailed for your future reference. The bulk of the newspaper collection is made up of copies of the Daily Sentinel dating back into the early 1940’s. Other newspapers available include the Meigs County Herald, The Leader, The Pomeroy Telegraph and several others dating back into the mid to late 1800’s. Our friendly staff is always available to demonstrate how to access and use the new files. For a full list of the files available, visit or call the Pomeroy Library at 992-5813 or visit our website at www.meigslibrary.org [1].
