Libraries & Academic Institutions
For over 40 years we have been responsible for the preservation and archive management of many of the nation's leading national, regional and out-of-date news titles and other documents of historical interest. We have kept ourselves to the fore through our innovative approach and investment in technology. We offer the full range of microfilming and digitisation services from digital imaging to archive website development all at the most competitive rates. The services we offer to libraries include
PRESERVATION OF NEWSPAPER TITLES THROUGH MICROFILMING
Newspapers are amongst the most valuable resources available in libraries of all sizes. They provide invaluable reference material for those with an interest in Irish studies and genealogical research. Despite recent developments in digitisation technology, microfilm is still recognised as the international benchmark method of ensuring their long-term preservation as film has a life span of 500 years!
HYBRID SOLUTION: DIGITISATION OF FILM & SCANNING HARDCOPY
At NML we have the country's most advanced digitisation equipment available to ensure we capture the best possible image from your microfilm archives. We also offer full colour scanning of hardcopy material. These scanners have been designed with advanced cradle systems to ensure there is no damage to older material during this process. We offer excellent incentives for dual microfilm and digitisation processes.
O.C.R PROCESSING
Once your material has been digitised either from microfilm or the original hardcopy we can render it fully word searchable using our up-to-the minute OCR technology. Your content is indexed and word searchable with each page captured to the highest standard. The viewing software will run on any PC through external hard drives or CD-Rom/DVD. We can also develop and host purpose built websites to display your content.
MICROFILM ARCHIVE AND DUPLICATION
At NML we have the country's largest microfilm archive of newspapers. All titles are available on high quality positive microfilm or on word searchable DVD/CD. We are responsible for the archive management of many of the nation's leading national, regional and out-of-print news titles. Please follow this link to see our extensive microfilm archive.
DIGITAL PERSVATION & WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
NML are proud to announce our latest innovation, we now offer all libraries in Ireland the opportunity to digitise their holdings, either from hardcopy or microfilm and display this content on purpose built and fully managed websites. This will unlock your library's valuable content, preserve the integrity of your original holdings and deliver access to all your members, in a future proof XML based digital format. Access can be controlled, to restrict access from in-house right up to completely open internet access. We offer a full range of packages and are very flexible in our approach to ensure we can bring such projects, which were formally the preserve of larger institutions, into the remit of the smaller libraries. This technology is in use within the library of Congress, The National Library of the Netherlands and many other leading libraries and institutions around the Globe.
Case Study 1 RTE Reference Library
National MicroMedia Ltd. was commissioned to digitise and OCR the entire back catalogue of RTE guide issues.
The bound volumes of the RTE guide are considered among the most valuable documents contained within the RTE archive and it was our proven track record and reputation for care and attention to detail that put us ahead of the competition. Bound volumes, by their nature, pose a difficult challenge when scanning. Their weight, size and spine can result in an imperfect scanned image, with curved text and/or distorted photographic images.
In addition, with bound volumes being vulnerable to damage due to excessive handling, we employed the use of the specialised Staude SMA 21 full colour A2 book scanner. This overhead scanner ensured that minimum handling was required in order to scan the volumes. The RTE library required a high-resolution, full-colour image for long-term storage and a reduced resolution, suitable for quick viewing and retrieval over their internal network We also processed the images through OCR. The resulting image and text were to be integrated with their existing media library system and we have worked with their 3rd party provider to facilitate this integration. We also developed customised software for their developer, allowing them to integrate the highlight functionality of our software platform into their media system.