Written question asked by Andrew Dismore (Labour) on Friday, 25 June 1999, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 5 July 1999. It was answered by Lord Howarth of Newport (Labour) on Monday, 5 July 1999 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Dept for Culture Media and Sport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what is the estimated durability and life expectancy of post-1850 newspaper newsprint copies held in the national newspaper collections. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what is the estimated durability and life expectancy of post-1850 newspaper newsprint copies held in the national newspaper collections. [89109] Mr. Alan Howarth: Newspapers produced in the last 150 years have not been made to last. It is estimated that the durability of newsprint is unlikely to be more than 60 years. After this time, the paper is too brittle to be handled. The British Library is addressing the problem in its retrospective transfer of newsprint to microfilm and the continuing process of microfilming all issues of UK daily and weekly national and regional newspapers received under legal deposit. The Library is also a subscriber to Newsplan, a co-operative programme devised by public libraries, national libraries and the newspaper industry for microfilming and preservation of local newspapers and for making them accessible to users. It is estimated that, since the late 1980s, over 14,000 reels of microfilm, each corresponding to a bound volume of historic local newspapers, have been filmed by the Newspaper Library for Newsplan. In March this year, the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded £5 million in support of Newsplan.

Secondary information