News and Microforms Library

A newspaper database provides content for hundreds of newspapers and may be more efficient than searching individual newspaper websites that may limit archival access. The Penn State Libraries provide access to many newspaper databases.  Each of the databases has unique content and special features and provides free access to Penn State users.

• Access World News (Newsbank) 

• LexisNexis Academic

• The online tool, NewsCAT, allows you to determine which news database includes the newspaper you need. It provides information on the years of coverage and content level (full or selective) for each newspaper.

• Using the Dallas Morning News as an example, a NewsCAT search retrieves the following results:

• If current daily coverage is important, you may also want to determine how frequently the content is added to the newspaper database. Use the list of newspapers provided by each database to locate this information. Some newspaper databases are updated daily and the content may already be available when you wake up each morning. Others load their content later in the day or even several days later. For more help determining this information, ASK or stop by the News & Microforms Library.

• Most newspaper databases begin their content in the mid-to-late 1990s. Coverage in the 1980s is very unusual, although there are exceptions. For example, Access World News (Newsbank) includes coverage for The Philadelphia Inquirer beginning in 1981. To search for stories before the mid-1990s, it is often necessary to use a newspaper index. 

• Exceptions to the rule above are Digital Archive Newspaper databases which include historically important newspapers in their entirety as a digital and searchable archive, typically from their very first issue. However, the most recent years are typically not available.

How do I find online newspapers for the years I need?

• NewsCAT helps you determine what newspapers are available online, by time period, by newspaper name, by language, or by geographic region.

• If you can't find a particular story it may be because many newspaper databases include only "selected content".

• A "Full-Text" Newspaper database will not include:

• Photographs, cartoons, and graphics
• Advertisements, advertising inserts and classified ads
• Special features such as Nielsen Ratings, sports/box scores, and similar formatted content
• Wire stories - many newspaper databases omit wire service stories that appeared in specific newspapers. You can find these in other databases.

• A "Selected Newspaper Article Coverage" Newspaper database will omit:

• Entire sections - for example, The New York Times Review of Books is not always included in every newspaper database and if a newspaper database vendor has contracted for only the business news then all other sections will not be included.
• Tasini decision articles/photographs - for which freelance journalists have retained copyright control of their content.

• The only newspaper database that includes all of the above content is Digital Archive Newspapers.

• Be sure to use NewsCAT to determine how much content is included for each newspaper.