NorthEast-Millerton library board approves measure aimed at digitizing newspapers

MILLERTON — As the town gets set to honor its 150th anniversary, the NorthEast-Millerton Library is fusing an old project with a state-of-the art idea to be certain its history as chronicled by The Millerton News and its predecessors will be available for years to come.

A vehicle for the project is the annual Millerton Community Calendar, a town mainstay since the Lion’s Club began the tradition 65 years ago. It is now being readied for publication by the Library, which inherited the program when the club disbanded locally in 2021.

Funds raised by the calendar have been used in the past primarily to cover cost of the publication, according to head librarian Rhiannon Leo-Jameson. But on Wednesday, April 10, the Library Board of Trustees approved a measure that will allow any funds beyond those needed for that purpose to be applied to a new program to digitize the Library’s collection of copies of The Millerton News and its predecessors which are now available at the library only on microfilm and in bound volumes.

While Leo-Jameson says final plans for the project are not yet in place, it is likely that the process will allow those papers to be accessed online.

Leo-Jameson, in consultation with Ed Downey, president of the North East Historical Society, said the project will be a joint undertaking with that group which has been sponsoring digitization efforts for a number of years, partly through the Dine Out for History sessions at local restaurants which was revived this year after having been shut down due to COVID 19.

This year’s version of the calendar, in addition to noting birthdays and anniversaries of local residents and families, will honor of the town’s 150th year by inviting merchants and others to mark the founding and other notable dates of local businesses and organizations.

The cost of printing and distributing the black and white calendar is supported with payment of $6 for the calendar and $.75 each for listing. Further funding comes from small ads for local business which cost $55.

To donate, purchase ads, or place significant dates in the calendar call 518-789-3340 or visit the Library at 75 Main St. Submissions are due by July 31. Distribution, which will take place at the library, is set for October.