Early Years of The Spectrum Made Electronic Through UBdigit

"UB Building Plans Progressing." "New Argus Club Plans Magazine." "Coffee Hour Today - 3:30."

These were a few of the front-page headlines of the very first issue of The Spectrum, dated Nov. 17, 1950. This issue, and others dating from 1950 through 1957, can now be located online through the university's digital collections service, UBdigit.

The process to make The Spectrum available online began four years ago when university archivist John A. Edens met with The Spectrum's editorial board and staff advisor to digitize the earliest editions of the newspaper.

"The board was supportive of the idea as long as we did not create a commercial site and charge," Edens said. "Of course, [University Archives] never had plans to do so."

University Archives was then given funding from the Western New York Library Resources Council to create the online collection.

Microfilm of the 1950s' editions of The Spectrum had already been produced by University Archives, which simplified the digitization. The microfilms of these editions were then transformed into their digital versions with help from Backstage Library Works.

"Backstage Library Works scanned the individual papers and provided article segmentation," said Stacy Person, director of Digital Library Collections for UB Libraries. "[Backstage] also used a process known as optical character recognition which takes keyword searches to find a specific article or topic."

The article segmentation allows readers to click on an individual article which then opens up a separate zoomed-in window, making the website user-friendly and easy to navigate. The site also uses optical character recognition, which provides the most relevant and accurate search results of a particular keyword.

With access to older editions of The Spectrum, it is possible to view the digital collection as a timeline of UB's history.

"The Spectrum is the oldest publication at UB," Edens said. "It has had a distinguished history, and earlier issues continue to be a valuable source of information about the university. The great work done by The Spectrum staff through the years deserves to be seen by others."

Having the newspapers digitized also makes it much easier to retrieve specific sets of information needed for research.

"Each paper gives a snapshot of what was going on, on any particular day," Person said. "Before, you would have to physically go to the archives and get what you needed to find out."

Also available through UBdigit are electronic editions of other student newspapers including The Bee from 1921 through 1950, The Argus from 1947 through 1950, and the UB Law School's student newspaper, The Opinion, from 1949 through 1987.

Publications featuring student photography, art, and other areas of interest can also be accessed through UBdigit.

"[The collections] are a value to anyone doing research on the history of the university," said Kathleen Quinlivan, senior assistant and project librarian for UB Libraries. "They are only becoming more valuable as more digital collections are added."

UBdigit is planning to add more collections including yearbooks and student artwork to their online site which can be located through the UB Libraries homepage. Whether or not additional years of The Spectrum will be digitalized is still uncertain due to funding.

"We would like to provide more issues using the microfilm up through the date when The Spectrum introduced color," Edens said. "We will be able to do so, however, only with outside financial support. We hope to interest alumni in contributing to the cost."

Email: news@ubspectrum.com