Microfilm Conversion Solution from BMI Imaging Takes SJSU Back to the Past with the Digital Conversion of The Spartan Daily Newspaper

82 years of history from San Jose State University’s (SJSU) student newspaper, The Spartan Daily, is now digitally available online as downloadable, searchable, page-image PDFs.

Sunnyvale, California – August 29, 2016 – BMI Imaging Systems, a leading provider of document management and microfilm scanning solutions, announced that San Jose State University is celebrating the digitization and online presence of The Spartan Daily school newspaper.

For the past year, BMI Imaging has been working with SJSU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Martin Luther King Jr. Library (MLK) staff to digitize and upload searchable PDF issues of the newspaper dating back to April 1934.

Tim Mitchell, SJSU journalism lecturer and design adviser, states, “A large amount of data from this student-run publication, including students, faculty, staff, historical events, arts and entertainment, opinions and sports has been resurrected and can be found online with just a click of a button. More than 77,000 pages of the school newspaper are available free to the public.” Mitchell continues, “BMI provided a digital solution that not only met our requirements, but also saved us a considerable amount of money on the scanning side of the equation.”

The Spartan Daily archives are the second most downloaded section of the MLK digital collections, and the current student newspaper is distributed three days a week on the San Jose State campus and in the surrounding community. It covers news, sports, arts and entertainment, tech, and opinion relating to the campus and its students.

The project received a grant from the Jack and Emma Anderson Endowment Fund created by profits from typesetting and printing The Spartan Daily over the years. Former MLK Library Associate Dean Mary Nino partnered her resources with the journalism department to help manage costs and add this archive to the ScholarWorks digital collection.

About BMI Imaging

BMI Imaging Systems, Inc. has been at the forefront of the document management industry since 1958, first with microfilm and now with scanned images. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with an additional production and sales facility in Sacramento, BMI serves over 500 commercial companies and government agencies, converting an average of 3 million images per month. BMI consists of 60 production specialists and support staff, many having worked for the company for ten years or more.

BMI has developed a wealth of experience in several vertical markets (e.g. healthcare, government, education) and offers customized document management solutions in a competitive and changing marketplace.  Scanning paper documents is usually the most visible task in achieving a full document solution. Identifying record types, determining indexing methods and leveraging content in existing legacy systems are all skills needed to modernize an agency’s document management systems and processes. BMI’s systems integration team has decades of experience to achieve this goal. Internally developed software tools, over 400 to date, are regularly employed to solve complex image and data challenges. Jobs that require analysis, data extraction, multiple service offerings and custom development are those that separate BMI from other providers.