NewspaperCat selected for top 20 best reference web sites

The  George A. Smathers Libraries Catalog of Digital Historical Newspapers (NewspaperCat) web site (http://ufdc.ufl.edu/hnccoll) has been selected as one of the MARS: Emerging Technologies in Reference (MARS)  best free reference web sites of 2012. MARS is a section of the Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association.

The list is voted on by member librarians from around the United States. The complete list can be seen at (http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/mars/marspubs/marsbestfreewebsites/marsbestref2012).

NewspaperCat is a tool that facilitates the discovery of online digitized historical newspaper content from newspapers published in the United States and the Caribbean. NewspaperCat was funded by a grant from the George A. Smathers Libraries.

Searching is conducted by newspaper title or by city, county or state. In many cases, this content is keyword searchable, depending on the hosting organization.

NewspaperCat currently links to over 1,500 full-text newspaper titles with a goal to include links to as many U.S. and Caribbean newspapers with archival digital content as possible. The catalog will be expanded as newly digitized newspaper titles are located.