CRL has released more than 400,000 pages of African newspapers as Open Access content via CRL’s Digital Delivery System (DDS). These new resources add to CRL’s growing body of newspapers digitized in response to interest from area specialists and researchers at member libraries.

Over 60 titles across 20 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa were recently ingested into DDS. Spanning the years 1800–1922, the material features a rich diversity of content including such key publications as the East African Standard, Mombasa Times & Uganda Argus (Kenya), Leselinyana la Lesutho (Lesotho), Lagos Standard (Nigeria), and Umteteli Wa Bantu (South Africa). Issues are openly available as image-only files, browseable by date, allowing researchers worldwide to consult the material.

Originally digitized through CRL’s World Newspaper Archive partnership, the titles support a wide range of research on Africa during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. CRL and Readex (a division of NewsBank) have committed to opening collections after an initial period. However, collections in the World Newspaper Archive are still available through Readex’s high-functionality platform with full-text search and other advanced features. CRL members may opt in to acquire these collections under the same generous terms and advantageous pricing as before.

CRL and its partners are committed to providing sustainable access to a rich and diverse set of international scholarly resources. CRL will archive the microform source material and digital files generated for the collection to ensure continuous long-term accessibility of those materials to the community. Content from additional WNA modules will be added successively as their respective exclusive periods expire.