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LwMDB: Open Metadata for Digitised Historical Newspapers from British Library Collections Cover

LwMDB: Open Metadata for Digitised Historical Newspapers from British Library Collections

Open Access
|May 2025

Abstract

The Living with Machines Database (LwMDB) represents one of the crown jewels of the Living with Machines project, showcasing the convergence of the project’s multiple newspaper-related datasets into a single, enriched resource for researchers interested in digitised British newspapers from the long nineteenth century. By combining British Library (BL) catalogue data, FindMyPast (FMP) metadata, and bespoke datasets such as WikiGaz and Mitchell’s Newspaper Press Directories, LwMDB enables an enriched view of digitised newspapers. Simplified CSV exports provide easy-to-use, reproducible access, while the database’s scalable architecture, built using Django and Docker, supports future iterations. In this way, LwMDB provides a foundation for humanities research made possible by powerful new metadata.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.304 | Journal eISSN: 2059-481X
Language: English
Submitted on: Jan 15, 2025
Accepted on: Apr 2, 2025
Published on: May 6, 2025
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2025 Kalle Westerling, Kaspar Beelen, Tim Hobson, Katherine McDonough, Nilo Pedrazzini, Daniel C. S. Wilson, Ruth Ahnert, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.