(via Nicole Swanson, CARLI, on behalf of Shelby Strommer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
The Illinois Newspaper Project (INP) is now accepting nominations for newspapers to be digitized as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. All Illinois cultural heritage institutions (including libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, and genealogical societies) are invited to nominate Illinois newspapers on microfilm. Newspapers must be published prior to 1963 and free of copyright restriction. Newspapers nominated should contribute to the wealth of Illinois cultural, economic, and political history, and possess research value in areas such as, but not limited to, genealogy, regional or statewide Illinois history or world history from an Illinois perspective, or the history of printing in Illinois. You might consider nominating newspapers often used or requested by patrons. Digitizing these newspapers would make them more widely and easily accessible, but also limit handling of the microfilm reel(s) to ensure longer life.
You can read more about the opportunity, eligibility, and nomination criteria, and also access the online nomination form, on our website. Nominations will be accepted through Saturday, September 30. Once the nomination period has closed, an advisory board will review the nominations and select 100,000 pages of newspapers to be digitized and made freely available online.