“I was thrilled to hear that we received this grant because it represents an opportunity for us to take our unique holdings in this area and transform them into a resource that’s easy to use,” said John Cuthbert, Curator of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection.

The WVU Libraries’ effort will be part of the National Digital Newspaper Program. The NEH and the Library of Congress are partnering with libraries and institutions from around the country to provide enhanced access to historical United States newspapers.

The Libraries are collaborating with the Library of Virginia, the historical research library in Richmond, Va. It is a unique partnership because newspaper publishing in Virginia and West Virginia is intertwined. As West Virginia did not achieve statehood until 1863, the project includes newspapers that were published when West Virginia was still part of Virginia.

A previous NEH grant enabled the Libraries to identify, catalog, and microfilm historic newspapers from all over the state. Harold Forbes, Associate Curator of the WVRHC, directed that effort and assisted in preparing the current grant application.

The Library of Congress hopes to one day unveil a website consisting of cataloged papers from every state. The WVU Libraries and all other partner institutions will each maintain a database of the papers they contributed. All sites will be freely accessible to the public.

Cuthbert expects the searchable databases to be a boon to researchers who will be able to dig more easily into these rich resources.

“Newspapers are one of the most important means of studying history,” Cuthbert said. “They give the perspectives of the people of the time, and they’re packed with content that’s of historical interest.”

One of NEH’s focuses is Civil War coverage from both Northern and Southern perspectives. The NEH also wants to spotlight rapidly growing industrial towns, labor-management struggles in the coal fields, and towns affected economically and culturally during and after World War I. Other areas of emphasis include foreign language newspapers for newly arrived immigrants and black-owned newspapers.

West Virginia papers address all of those areas. The state played center stage both in the Civil War and in coal field clashes. For coverage of the oil industry in the 1870s, there was the Volcano Lubricator. During the early 20^th century, socialists spread their message through the Labor Argus in Charleston and the Socialist and Labor Star in Huntington.

The press also gave minorities a voice. The McDowell Times was a black-owned paper in southern West Virginia. Wheeling had at least three newspapers written in German. Thomas had the Italian-written La Sentinella del West Virginia.

 This tremendous wealth of content, however, has gone relatively untapped because the newspapers lack an index.

Cuthbert possesses a first-hand understanding of the difficulty of searching through hundreds of yards of microfilm. While studying American music history in graduate school, he spent a year searching through newspaper microfilm looking for music references. He later repeated the process in a search for art references.

“Over several years I looked at just about every newspaper published in West Virginia during the 19^th century,” Cuthbert said. “The only way to do this is to put microfilm on a reel and go page by page. One can spend a year doing that with a small quantity of newspapers.”

Once the newspapers become searchable online, one could accomplish in an hour what it took him months to do.

“That will be an incredible step forward. It will be tremendously valuable to every type of researcher we have here,” Cuthbert said.

For example, a common request in the WVRHC is for help in locating obituaries. Often, someone knows only a time frame, not a date.  Currently, such a search could take months if one is fortunate enough to find it at all. Being able to search by name could reduce the hunt to minutes.

Digitization will enhance the experience and results for historians, researchers, genealogist, and students.

“Professors often expect their students to go to original sources and draw their own conclusions rather than rehash what somebody else has written and adopt someone else’s conclusion,” Cuthbert said. “I anticipate students will get a great deal of use out of the results of this project.”

Cuthbert estimates the finished website will launch in 2013.

Fans aren’t the only ones counting on the WVU football team to put a lot of points on the scoreboard this season: The University’s libraries are banking on the Mountaineers as well.

Frances O’Brien, dean of the WVU Libraries, and WVU sports marketing director Matt Wells unveiled the Mountaineer Touchdown Challenge, a joint initiative between the WVU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the libraries, on Tuesday. The program allows fans to pledge a donation for every touchdown the Mountaineers score this season, with all of the proceeds going directly to WVU’s libraries.

“A great university needs a great library,” O’Brien said. “And it made sense to us that when fans cheer for the Mountaineers and support the team, they could put some of that energy into supporting every school, every academic department, every student, every faculty member and every researcher here on campus.”

O’Brien said she came up with the idea for the Mountaineer Touchdown Challenge in June, while reading about WVU athletic director Oliver Luck’s “100 percent Mountaineer” initiative in The Dominion Post.

Luck’s plan challenges every sport in the athletic department to strive for a Top 25 finish and achieve a graduation rate of at least 75 percent.

O’Brien liked the challenge of linking academic and athletic goals and thought the buzz about the football program provided an excellent opportunity for WVU’s libraries to capitalize.

“Mountaineer fans have great spirit,” O’Brien said. “They’re going to be anticipating the success of a new coach and a new offense. There is a lot of excitement for the start of a new football season and I hope they’ll put some of that good energy into investing in the library.”

Funds raised from the Mountaineer Touchdown Challenge will go directly to the library system, but won’t be earmarked for any specific projects. Instead, O’Brien said she hoped to use the money to address the libraries’ ever-changing needs, such as buying books and new computer equipment, or updating the study space.

Wells said tying the fundraiser into the debut of WVU head football coach Dana Holgorsen’s new offense was a natural fit. Fans are excited to see Holgorsen’s scheme in action and Wells hopes the libraries can benefit from that enthusiasm.

“We’re very offensive-minded around here right now, and that was a great way to tie into what we have going on with our football program with a university initiative,” Wells said. “That’s what we’re hoping and that’s one of the things that was so attractive to coach Holgorsen. It made a lot of sense to us.”

Pledges will be based on every offensive touchdown the Mountaineers score this season, including in a potential bowl game. Defensive touchdowns will not count toward the total. Holgorsen’s offense scored 62 touchdowns at Oklahoma State last year and averaged 69 touchdowns in his previous two seasons, at Houston. WVU scored 42 offensive touchdowns in 2010.

“I’ve heard him say that he doesn’t take his foot off the pedal; I assume that’s directed to help the library. That’s the only reason I can think of him doing that,” Wells joked.

Info: libraries.wvu.edu or 304-293-0306.

The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is teaming up with the WVU Libraries to launch a fundraising campaign to benefit the Libraries.

The Mountaineer Touchdown Challenge is a new initiative that enables alumni and fans to support the Libraries while cheering for the Gold and Blue.

Challenge participants pledge a certain dollar figure per touchdown the Mountaineers score during the 2011 season and in any subsequent bowl game. Funds raised will go to establish the Mountaineer Athletics Library Fund, which will benefit students.

“We are all anticipating an exciting football season as the Mountaineers transform under head coach Dana Holgorsen’s high-speed offense,” said Athletic Director Oliver Luck. “Making a pledge in the Mountaineer Touchdown Challenge is a great way to show one’s support for all of WVU.”

Earlier this summer, Libraries Dean Frances O’Brien approached Luck with the idea. Luck, who spent long hours in the library when he was a student-athlete, likes the concept of the team’s success benefiting all students on campus.

“Over the past year, we’ve focused on enhancing the experience for fans at our events. The Touchdown Challenge enables all of us – WVU staff, athletes, alumni and fans – to play a part in enhancing the academic experience for our students,” Luck said. “As a former student-athlete, I know how a good library helped me in my academic pursuits.”

Holgorsen, who begins his first season as head coach, believes the Touchdown Challenge will help all groups to remember the student aspect of athletes at WVU.

“We emphasize the importance of academics to all of our players,” Holgorsen said. “For them and all students, it’s essential to have great library resources and knowledgeable librarians to guide them when they’re doing research.”

O’Brien believes the Touchdown Challenge is a great opportunity for athletics to partner with academics. She explained that the Libraries serve all students, faculty and staff at the University.

“Mountaineer fans have great spirit,” O’Brien said. “When they cheer for and support the Mountaineers, they could also support every school, every academic department, and every student at WVU.”

If you’re up for the Touchdown Challenge, a link is located on the Libraries’ website, www.libraries.wvu.edu, or go to www.mountaineerconnection.com/touchdownchallenge.

Now, imagine what it would take for a student to get off to a good start on his or her academic voyage.

The West Virginia University Libraries want to help. As part of the 2011 First Year Academy, the Libraries are sponsoring “Discover! WVU Libraries” to support the University’s initiative to enhance the First Year Experience program.

The event, to be held from 1:30-5 p.m. August 20, invites the incoming class of Mountaineers into the Libraries before they even jot one note or listen to one lecture.

The goal is to introduce them to the library that will assist them through their academic endeavors at WVU. If students can casually explore the library, they will feel more comfortable and confident when they return with an assignment in hand.

Depending on their major, students will visit the Downtown Campus Library, the Evansdale Library, or the Health Sciences Library to learn about the array of available resources and services and to meet the librarians and staff who can guide them when writing a paper or doing research.

To make the experience fun, as well as instructive, the Libraries have planned a series of activities throughout the buildings. Students will receive incentives to participate. Each library will give out prizes, and students will be entered into a drawing for an iPad and Sony Reader.

An assessment form for the event will serve as the drawing entry form. Their responses will allow the Libraries to gauge student reactions to their discoveries and improve the program next year.