The morgue doesn’t sound like a place where you’d find some of a company’s most valuable information assets.

Maybe that’s why this colorful newspaper term is heard less and less as we move forward in the age of digital content, hyperlinks and search engines. Newspapers race to put the most relevant, accurate and interesting product in readers’ hands every day. In contrast, yesterday’s news doesn’t seem very glamorous.

Yet archives are valuable in many ways and newspapers are becoming more creative about how to access the value that’s stored in what’s variously called the library, the archives or the morgue.

Access in many ways

Many readers are unaware that a newspaper even has a library and staff to maintain it. Others, however, have come to depend upon access to local newspaper archives in many ways. Newspaper librarians have always supported reporters and editors who need help finding or verifying data.

No longer morgue clerks, today’s librarians are often skilled researchers able to add great value to the creation of the daily news.

Indeed, sometimes their research becomes breaking news itself. That was the case in 1998 when The Associated Press’ researcher Randy Herschaft investigated the denials by the U.S. Army of its participation in the 1950 massacre at No Gun Ri, Korea. The resulting stories brought the AP its first Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism in 2000.

Exist nowhere else

Librarians also get requests from the general public for information that may exist nowhere outside the newspaper’s own archives.

Lawyers, law enforcement officials, corporate and academic researchers, historians, genealogists - or just family members wanting to verify that story about dear old Uncle Frank - are some of the people who seek access to the archives of the local newspaper. Sometimes it’s mild curiosity and sometimes it’s an urgent need, but these people all want information and often are willing and able to pay for it.

Newspaper policies

We recently researched the policies of newspaper librarians regarding records access, technology and fees. Here are some of our findings.

*Fewer newspapers allow readers to access back copies in their libraries. Historically, newspapers have maintained bound copies of back issues. More recently, back issues were stored on microfilm or microfiche. Giving the public access to these resources is problematic and is a declining practice. Of 66 newspapers surveyed, only 18 percent allow the public to access back copies of the paper in the newspaper’s library and only 15 percent allow the public to view microfilm there.

*Of the few that allow public access, most require an appointment. Many newspaper librarians instead refer people to the public library for access to old copies or microfilm.

*About 75 percent of newspaper librarians said they will fax or e-mail stories if requested. While many papers e-mail those articles for free, some are beginning to charge for the service.

*While direct access to the physical archives is declining, the Web access is growing. More than 80 percent of newspapers in our survey permit the public to access archives via their Internet sites. And no advance appointment is needed to visit a Web site.

Additional revenues

Searches done by librarians for the public are often time consuming, hence costly for the newspaper. Many newspapers realize that these unique assets - both the librarians and the content itself - can bring in additional revenue. Of the newspapers in the survey that e-mail stories to people, half charge for it.

Interestingly enough, our research found newspapers are more likely to charge a client for faxing or mailing a story than they are to charge for e-mailing the same content.

In our survey, 67 percent of papers that fax or mail stories charge for the service. This suggests that the fees have been imposed more as a way to cover expenses or discourage frivolous requests than as a way to raise revenue.

Fees for faxing, mailing and e-mailing stories are all very similar. Most charge about $5 to $10 per story, with some charging a research fee of $50 to $75 per hour, instead of charging for the story itself. Some also have higher fees for commercial requests than they do for the general public.

Self-service

More newspapers are embracing the idea of providing self-service access to content via their Web site (see related story, page 46). It makes access easier, reduces labor costs and provides a new revenue stream.

Our survey indicated that almost 60 percent of newspapers provide free access to archive searches, while 30 percent allow subscribers free access to archived stories. Yet almost half charge either a per-use or a subscription fee to access a complete archived article.

A number of papers have taken the approach of making seven, 14 or even 30 days of back content available without fees.

Photo$

Photo reprints, another potential source of revenue, is a decidedly mixed bag for newspapers.

Almost 60 percent of our sample don’t allow the public to order photos from their Web sites, despite the fact that online photo services have become common and popular.

Another 27 percent do allow photo orders - for a fee. In some cases, users have to print out a form that must be filled out and sent into the newspaper with payment.

Newspapers are at the beginning stages of what they can do with archived content. Clearly, not everything on the Internet is free. Newspapers have unique and valuable content, gathered at great cost, which can’t be easily duplicated. As new technologies make it easier and more cost effective to make archival content accessible, the value of that content will grow, for both the public and the newspapers.

Editor’s note: The complete report detailing newspaper library archive access can be found on the Summit Media Partners LLC Web site www.summitmediapartners.com.