A hundred years of newspapers : compiling metadata of Maltese newspapers in English, 1839-1939

Abstract

Newspapers are among the richest sources of information available to scholars studying people and cultures, providing windows into the past hardly available nowhere else. This dissertation discusses the importance of historic newspapers as an invaluable resource for historians, economists, sociologists, genealogists, and researchers in other fields, by bringing past events and people to life with great immediacy and in rich detail. Besides, it highlights the importance of metadata in the discovery of material in a database and how can metadata enhance the research potential of newspaper collections. This study also provides an exhaustive list of Maltese newspapers published in English during the first hundred years following granting of freedom of the press, and comprises a comprehensive description of each newspaper, based mainly on the Dublin Core. It addresses the research gap and encourages further studies on such newspapers. It should prove to be a valuable research tool for researchers and an information platform to increase public awareness with respect to the vast collection of newspapers held at the National Library of Malta, Gozo National Library and University of Malta Library. By including this data in the digitization project at the National Library of Malta through DigiVault, it will ensure its preservation for posterity and make the collection accessibile to a wider range of users.