Finding newspapers

Newspaper formats

At Nottingham we have access to a wealth of newspaper information.

Newspapers will be available in different formats:

Print - allows you to see articles in context and includes images and other content (adverts etc.) Media types
Microfilm - allows you to see articles in context. Some content, for example, by freelance reporters may be missing due to copyright restrictions. You will need to use a microfilm reader to consult these newspapers (UK only)
Online - indexed by specialist databases, online newspapers can be easily searched and accessed, but many will only include the text. Some databases will digitise the whole page which will provide you with more contextual information.

Search for newspapers in print using NUsearch [UK, China, Malaysia]. Microfilm formats (available in the UK only) will also be shown in your results.

NUsearch provides links to current online newspapers in the UK, foreign newspapers and historical archives.

Free newspapers sites will usually only allow you to view the current or more recent issues of the newspaper.

However, there are a number of specialist databases that the library subscribes to which allow you to search across further years. These include:

Resource	Description	Special coverage	Year range
Nexis ® (UK only)	News and business research service. Select Nexis ® to get news services rather than LexisNexis Butterworth	As well as English and US sources, good coverage of material in French, German and Spanish	Often back to the 1980s

Some bibliographic databases, such as the British Humanities Index (BHI) substantial articles in UK broadsheet newspapers.

BHI and other databases can be accessed via NUsearch [UK, China, Malaysia]

Resource	Description	Special coverage	Year range
Times Digital Archive	A complete digital edition of the Times (London) providing full facsimile images of a specific article or a complete page	The entire newspaper is captured so you can see advertisements and illustrations/photos as well as the text	1785-1985
Historical Guardian and Observer Newspaper	A complete digital edition of the Guardian and Observer providing full facsimile images of a specific article or a complete page	The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from available issues.	Guardian 1821-2003 Observer 1791-2003
Historical New York Times	Full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue.		1851-2003
Burney Collection	Newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney.		17th-18th Century
Eighteenth Century Journals Portal	18th century newspapers and periodicals		1685-1815
Nineteenth Century British Library Newspapers	48 national, regional and local newspapers from the 19th century		19th century

The East Midlands Collection contains Nottingham newspapers for the eighteenth to early 20th centuries. The collection is not complete for this period, but for most dates at least one title is available. There is also some coverage of Derby and Leicester.
Information can be very detailed e.g. verbatim reports of trials, advertisements, national and international news as well as local news.
Requests for original bound volumes must be made in the Reading Room, where they will be produced for consultation.

More information on registering to use Special Collections and ordering items from the East Midlands Collection.

Use Newsplan to find details of location of older local newspapers from the East Midlands.