British Newspaper Archive
You can print or download this British Newspaper Archive helpsheet PDF [581 KB - not accessible].
Titles cover the whole of Britain, with some dating back to the eighteenth century. The archive is available in all West Sussex Libraries. All articles are free to access whilst using a library computer; however you will need to create an individual account to do so.
Help with the British Newspaper Archive
This guide will show you how to access the British Newspaper Archive: digitised copies of national and regional newspapers from the collections of the British Library. Titles cover the whole of Britain, with some dating back to the eighteenth century. The archive is available in all West Sussex Libraries. All articles are free to access whilst using a library computer; however, you will need to create an individual account to do so.
Getting started
Log in to one of the library computers or type in the library website address https://arena.westsussex.gov.uk/. When the home page appears scroll down and click on the eLibrary tile.
This screen appears. Then click on eInformation to view the A-Z of resources.
Choose British Newspaper Archive from the A-Z.
If you already have an account, sign in as usual. Otherwise click on Register, enter some basic details, and click on Get Started to create your account.
You can carry out a basic search from the home page by entering keywords and clicking on the search button.
Search Tips
Use quotation marks around words to search for an exact phrase e.g. “Sylvia Pankhurst” or “Chichester Cathedral”.
Names can also appear in different ways so try “Miss Pankhurst”, “Miss S Pankhurst” or “S Pankhurst”.
The Advanced Search allows you to limit the search in various ways, such as by date, newspaper title or location (country, region, county or place).
From the results page you can use the Refine Search filters on the left to narrow your search in a similar way to Advanced Search. The results are listed in order of relevance, but you can change this to date order with either the oldest or most recent articles first.
Click on a title to view the original page. Keywords will be highlighted to help you find the relevant article. You can then print or download a copy of the page.
There are other online news resources available via the West Sussex Libraries website. Go to https://arena.westsussex.gov.uk/web/arena/-/newspapers for access to the Times Digital Archive, Illustrated London News and Press Reader.
Other ways we can help you find the information that you need:
This guide has been produced by West Sussex County Council Library Service ©2023