Homer Public Library patrons now have searchable access to Homer News archives dating back seven decades, the library announced last month.

As of Dec. 19, patrons can access searchable Homer News archives from its inception to 2021 via website newspapers.com and access them free via library computers. Patrons can use library computers to look up information from archived Homer Newspapers, such as birth announcements, high school sports games, graduation records or Homer “Nutcracker” stories by entering a person’s name or business name to find stories via the website newspapers.com.

Dave Berry, Homer Public Library director, said the library was contacted about a year ago by Sound Publishing to see if the library would be interested in having local library microfiche digitized.

Josh O’Connor, president of Sound Publishing, said the company was pleased to be able to provide online access to the newspaper archives through newspapers.com and the library.

“We have been the community’s newspaper of record, chronicling the daily events of Homer since 1964. This service will be an invaluable tool for historical research, family history, crime investigations and our ongoing journalism efforts. This doesn’t replace our ongoing need for your support by subscribing to the Homer News, but a wonderful community resource that we’re glad to share.”

To create the digital service, library microfiche was sent to the company in Seattle where it was uploaded into the online media system. The microfiche is slated to be returned to the Homer Public Library located at 500 Hazel Ave. this month. Some of the delays in processing the microfiche were related to obtaining copyright permissions through the newspapers.com system, overseen by the parent company Ancestry.

Readers can also obtain personal access to newspapers.com with a subscription that includes hundreds of other digitized national newspapers. The website is available at www.newspapers.com.