My battle with the National Library of Australia over access to the #Trove API has been used as a case study in a paper on digital archives as infrastructure by @LeuLeu & @macgraveur. It was presented yesterday at the forum de l’Association des archivistes Français. https://aldonzel.github.io/intervention-forum-AAF25/ (in French) #GLAM

Many thanks to the Australian Historical Association for sharing their concerns about changes to the National Library of Australia's API policy and the suspension of my API keys which, they say, "marks a troubling restriction to the work of researchers in Australia and overseas". https://theaha.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AHA-Statement-on-New-Restrictions-to-Trove.pdf #Trove #histodons @histodons #GLAM

Nope, now it's not so easy because the gatekeepers at the NLA want you to seek permission before downloading the content of newspaper articles via the API. The #Trove Newspaper and Gazette Harvester is widely used and cited in research literature, but I can't use or maintain it because my API keys were cancelled. The NLA's policy is damaging research.

Via Michael, Hendrik, and Valentin Werner. 2024. “Digital Press Archives for Media and Communication History Research: From ‘reading rooms’ to Virtual Research Environments”. Studies in Communication Sciences 24 (3): 285–301. https://doi.org/10.24434/j.scoms.2024.03.4050. #GLAM #histodons #digitalhumanities

It's been four weeks now since the National Library of Australia suspended my API keys, forcing all my work on #Trove to stop: https://updates.timsherratt.org/2025/02/24/years-of-work-on-trove.html #GLAM #openGLAM #histodons #digitalHumanities

The NLA's suspension of my #Trove API access has been picked up in this news story from the Australian Computing Society: https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/national-library-cracks-down-on-public-data-access.html #GLAM #OpenData

Trove API users beware! I had a meeting with the NLA on Friday about my cancelled API keys and was shocked by changes in their policy towards API use that could have a big impact of HASS research using #Trove data. More details: https://updates.timsherratt.org/2025/03/02/trove-api-users-beware-the.html Please share! #GLAM #histodons @histodons #digitalHumanities

So I've had a meeting with the NLA and I'm still in shock. Apparently under the current interpretation of the #Trove API terms of use, you cannot access 'content', only 'metadata'. This means, for example, it is a breach of the terms of use to download the text of a newspaper article using the API. If you want to do this you have to get the NLA's permission beforehand. This is despite the fact that the text is actually in the API responses. WTF?! #GLAM

Nice. So the NLA has cancelled all my #Trove API keys because of the work I did recently trying to help researchers & communities more easily use the rich collections of periodicals uploaded through the National eDeposit service (described here: https://updates.timsherratt.org/2025/02/19/search-the-content-of-periodicals.html).

What does this mean for my various Trove tools & resources?

GLAM Workbench notebooks use your own API keys, not mine, so they won't be affected. However, I won't be able to maintain and test existing notebooks, or develop new resources.

Similarly, my ability to develop and maintain the Trove Data Guide will be very limited.

The Trove Newspaper Data Dashboard which provides weekly updates on the newspaper corpus won't be updated, and none of the automated data harvests I've been developing to preserve information about the development of Trove will run.

I was asked recently for help searching a community newsletter that had been uploaded to #Trove through the National eDeposit service (NED). That led me down a bit of a rabbit hole... I've now added a notebook to the #GLAMWorkbench that walks through the process of extracting metadata and text from a NED periodical and building a custom search interface using Datasette. This could be useful both to researchers and communities. Details here: https://updates.timsherratt.org/2025/02/19/search-the-content-of-periodicals.html

I've also added a new Trove NED section to the GLAM Workbench, created a new Datasette template, & updated my harvest of NED periodicals.

Trove & the NLA refuse to share links to the GW, so there’s a good chance that the people who might benefit most directly from this work will never know that it exists. Please help by sharing amongst your networks! #GLAM #digitalHumanities #histodons @histodons

And 71,579 digitised newspaper articles added to #Trove last week. For details see my newspaper data dashboard: https://wragge.github.io/trove-newspaper-totals/ #GLAM

Digitised newspapers added to #Trove in the last few weeks:

- The Moree News (NSW : 1899; 1902 - 1907)
- The Yarrawonga Mercury and Tungamah and Lake Rowan Express and St. James Gazette (Vic. : 1927 - 1936)

For weekly updates see: https://wragge.github.io/trove-newspaper-totals/ #GLAM #histodons

I'm back in the land of the computers and catching up with new year things. Here's a quick look at what changed in #Trove's digitised newspapers in 2024.

6,241,739 digitised newspaper articles were added to Trove in 2024. The rate of digitisation was pretty quick until the end of March when the processing of the Melbourne Sun ended, then things flattened out a bit. #GLAM #histodons #digitalHumanities @histodons

Looks like #Trove has added it's first Korean language newspaper, Hanho Tʻaimzŭ = Hanho Times (Sydney, NSW : 1985 - 1995): https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/title/1932 #GLAM #histodons

I've updated the @trovenewsbot documention to point to the new wraggebots.net version. The docs explain how you can use @trovenewsbot to search #Trove's newspapers without ever leaving the Fediverse. https://wragge.github.io/trovenewsbot-fedi/

One of my weirdnesses is that every so often when the Trove News Bot posts, I go and correct the text, especially if it’s an old source. @wragge
#Trove #TroveTextCorrection

If you’re an #AusFamilyHistory person, particularly in NSW, here’s a useful reminder to keep checking #Trove - they do keep adding more newspapers as @wragge points out! Here’s a very handy link:

New digitised newspaper added to #Trove: Central Western Daily (Orange, NSW : 1945 - 1954). See the Trove newspaper data dashboard for more updates: https://wragge.github.io/trove-newspaper-totals/ #GLAM #histodons #digitalHumanities

From the ever helpful @wragge (Thank you!) For my fellow #FamilyHistory people:

There's been some early #newspapers from western Victoria added to #Trove over recent weeks:

- The Portland Mercury and Normanby Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 - 1843)
- The Portland Mercury and Port Fairy Register (Vic. : 1843 - 1844)
- Portland Gazette and Belfast Advertiser (Vic. : 1844 - 1849)
- The Belfast Gazette and Portland and Warnambool Advertiser (Vic. 1849 - 1876)

See the Trove Data Dashboard for updates: https://wragge.github.io/trove-newspaper-totals/ #GLAM #histodons #ozHist

There's been some early #newspapers from western Victoria added to #Trove over recent weeks:

- The Portland Mercury and Normanby Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 - 1843)
- The Portland Mercury and Port Fairy Register (Vic. : 1843 - 1844)
- Portland Gazette and Belfast Advertiser (Vic. : 1844 - 1849)
- The Belfast Gazette and Portland and Warnambool Advertiser (Vic. 1849 - 1876)

See the Trove Data Dashboard for updates: https://wragge.github.io/trove-newspaper-totals/ #GLAM #histodons #ozHist

Gradually adding photos and in this case a #Trove account of a wedding to my WeAre archive https://app.weare.xyz/share/earlier-times/articles/naeqzhr828eg The beautiful bridesmaid was my mother. #FamilyHistory #genealogy