Behind the scenes - Discovery Services

Behind the ‘staff only doors’ of  State Library many staff and volunteers work everyday on a range of activities for our clients today, and for future users. Over the next few months we will be highlighting some of these activities and staff to give you a behind the scenes view of the library.

Coordinated by Discovery Services, a team of dedicated SLQ volunteers have been hard at work this year on a project to transcribe details from nearly 2, 500 pages of The Queenslander newspaper published from 1914 – 1919. These pages come from Pictorial Supplements that were included in the newspaper each week, showing glimpses of life across Queensland, and from around the world.

Although The Queenslander is digitised and available online, the microfilm that was used for the digitisation does not always provide enough detail of the photographs and the captions are often very difficult to read. State Library  has digitised all of these pages at very high resolution so that amazing clarity and detail in the images is now revealed.

Here is an example from the digitised microfilm.

The same image from the newly digitised page.

One of the most exacting, but most valuable parts of the work has been the transcription of the names of just over 26, 000 Queensland soldiers whose portraits were published in the newspapers before they left Australia to fight in the First World War. When the project is completed in April 2015 these individual soldier portraits and all of the pages that have been digitised will be available on One Search, the library catalogue to view and to download for free.

More information about volunteering at State Library of Queensland

Become a digital volunteer through Pitch In!

Learn more about Q ANZAC 100: Memories for a New Generation, SLQ’s four year project around the centenary of the First World War.

View The Queenslander Pictorial Supplements in One Search, the library catalogue.

Margaret Warren, Coordinator, Discovery Services