By JAKE CHNG

READERS can now read past articles published here by 17 English newspapers, such as The Straits Times, at home and for free.

They can view the full articles, published between 1831 and 1989, by visiting NewspaperSG at http://newspapers.nl.sg The website allows them to save links to articles and share them on social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The online newspaper archive service was officially launched yesterday by the National Library Board (NLB).

It introduced the service in March last year, but the archive contained only past articles by The Straits Times, and could be accessed only at NLB libraries.

Newspapers provide comprehensive coverage of Singapore's history and the new service will enhance the work of researchers and students of Singapore's history, said the NLB.

But home users of the service will not be able to download or print the articles.

They will also have to make do with only the headlines and the first 50 words of articles published after 1989.

To view and print all articles dating from 1831 to 2006, readers have to use multimedia stations at the libraries, at a fee of three cents per minute.

The fee does not bother university undergraduate Benjamin Chan, 24, as he finds the online archive several notches above what was previously available.

Mr Chan, who uses the archive regularly for research, said: "In the past, whenever I needed to search for old news, I had to use microfilms, which would take a long time.

"After The Straits Times archive became available last year, I took about 70 to 80 per cent less time to find what I needed."

In the next few years, more newspapers, including my paper, Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian and Tamil Murasu, will be included in the archive.

chngjm@sph.com.sg

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