The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) (the national library of the Netherlands) is going to digitalize the complete volumes of NRC Handelsblad, beginning with the first issue in 1970 until 1995. The newspapers will be available on the website Historical Newspapers of the KB. This as agreed by NRC Media (the publisher of NRC Handelsblad) and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek on 10 January 2012. The volumes as from 1995 will be available digitally at NRC Handelsblad itself.
The volumes of NRC Handelsblad will be part of the digital archive of historical newspapers that the KB has built since 2006. Until the end of this year the web service will be enlarged from 3.4 million to nine million pages from the period 1618-1995. The web service kranten.kb.nl has been visited over a million times since its launch . After De Telegraaf, NRC Handelsblad is the second large national newspaper that has agreed to digitalization by the KB. It is expected that approximately 300.000 pages from NRC Handelsblad will become available in the course of 2014. The KB also aims at digitalizing the volumes of the Algemeen Handelsblad and the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche courant – the precursors of NRC Handelsblad- from the period of 1940 to 1970. The volumes of the Algemeen Handelsblad, from 1828 to 1940 have already been included in the web service of historical newspapers.
Photo: On the left Bas Savenije (KB) and on the right Dick van Eijk (NRC Media), signing the digitalization agreement.
Source (Dutch): Informatie Professional
