HSJ Online takes offline form for library readers

For the first time since 2014, the Hope Star Journal is again available in print copy.

But not in the traditional broadsheet that is black, white and read all over sense.

The HSJOnline print project, which was launched in January, is the brainchild of David Miller, branch supervisor of the Hope Branch Library.
Miller says the resource is something extra for individuals who do not go online on a regular basis and attracts more than two dozen patrons to the library each week.

Following the sudden death of the Hope Star Journal’s former publisher, Larry David Simpson, in 2014, the paper’s future was thrust into flux. That is, until it was re-launched in 2015 as an online news source for the Hope community and its surrounding areas.

Since that time, online readership and community support and involvement with the news source has increased well beyond expectations. And well beyond Indiana state lines.

However, not everyone in the Hope area is entirely computer savvy or a fan of going online to get their news, says library assistant Stephanie Shoaf.
Shoaf says she noticed, when helping library patrons get online, there was a sense of frustration on the patrons’ part and some simply did not want any part of the Internet – let alone having to learn how to navigate it.

Hence, the HSJOnline print project was piloted.

Library staff print off copies of HSJOnline stories which are then kept in two three-inch ring binders that are housed at the Hope Branch Library and Reflections Salon on the Hope town Square.

Those who visit the library in search of the big red binder will find it nestled amongst other news papers including the Columbus’ Republic Newspaper, the Indianapolis Star and USA Today, Shoaf says.

“The binder is organized from start to finish with the latest articles on top,” she says. “So when people open it they see what is most recent.”

The library, which also has print copies of the Hope Star-Journal dating back to 1941, is prepared for the addition of more binders that the project will require.

“Certainly, maybe a generation ago, you would not have offered news without print,” Miller says. “A lot of people are getting their news online, but there is still a subset of people who do not go online for whatever reason and this is one way we get to bridge that digital divide and allow people to still take part in what is going on in town who would not have gotten to otherwise.”

If there is one aspect of offering the print copy Miller has second thoughts about, it is not launching the project sooner.

“I think we should have done it from the beginning so we would have a printed chronicle of HSJOnline,” he says. “But having a documented backlog of everything that has been on the site would be helpful, too.”

Miller says an expansion of the project is certainly a possibility if there is a garnering of more interest from area businesses.

“I am glad to be able to offer it,” Miller says. “And that the library has been kind enough to get behind and support my idea. We are open to the idea of offering additional copies and certainly if other locations are interested in the idea we are open to that.”