NewsBank facts for kids
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|
| Formation | 1972 |
|---|---|
| Founder | John Naisbitt |
| Merger of | Readex |
| Type | Corporation |
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | Naples, Florida, United States |
|
Region
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United States Canada |
| Services | News database and educational archive resource |
|
Official language
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English |
|
President and CEO
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Dan Jones |
NewsBank Inc. is a company from the United States. It started in 1972. NewsBank creates and keeps a huge online collection of news. This collection helps libraries around the world. It gives people access to old and new news stories.
As of 2025, NewsBank has information from thousands of newspapers. It also includes videos, TV show transcripts, and other publications. This makes it a great resource for learning about past and present events.
Contents
NewsBank's Beginning and Growth
How NewsBank Started
John Naisbitt, a famous author, started NewsBank in 1972. He is known for his book Megatrends. Daniel S. Jones later bought NewsBank from Naisbitt. Jones then became the company's president. Naisbitt left NewsBank in 1973.
In 1983, NewsBank bought another company called Readex. Readex was one of the first groups in America to save information using microform. This merger helped NewsBank grow its collection of historical records.
Early Operations and Technology
In 1986, NewsBank's main office was in New Canaan, Connecticut. The company had about 100 employees working in the office. Another 100 employees worked from their homes. These home-based workers would pick up newspapers from the office. They would then index the information and bring it back to the company.
Chris Andrews joined NewsBank in 1986. He helped the company switch from paper to CD-ROMs. This meant libraries could get news indexes and full articles on discs. Searching for information became much faster. It went from 30 minutes with paper to just five minutes with CD-ROMs. NewsBank chose articles that would interest many future researchers.
Expanding Digital Access
By 1992, NewsBank was working on better ways to search for news by location. At that time, it indexed articles from over 400 US media sources using microfiche. In 1993, NewsBank launched a CD-ROM product. This product included full articles from 35 major publications. These included The Christian Science Monitor and The Washington Post.
In 1994, NewsBank was the only company offering an index for theater articles. This was available through its NewsBank's Review of the Arts: Performing Arts on CD-ROM. The company also started collecting full articles about local economies. It provided this information to clients on CD-ROMs.
NewsBank was a private company. In 1994, it made about $19 million a year. It had a staff of 350 people. By 1998, NewsBank offered CD-ROM indexes for newspaper articles. These articles came from over 450 cities in the United States.
Partnerships and Services
In 2001, NewsBank put the Foreign Broadcast Information Service index on CD-ROM. NewsBank also teamed up with Micromedia, Ltd. This partnership helped NewsBank share its products in Canada. By 2004, NewsBank had access to hundreds of media references dating back to 1996.
In 2005, NewsBank offered different access levels. This meant public libraries, public schools, and higher education institutions paid different amounts.
In 2011, NewsBank made a deal with The Daily Northwestern newspaper. This agreement was to archive all its past publications. They archived over 90,000 pages of material. The plan was to archive all related publications from 1871 to 2000. This material would be searchable online. Dan Jones, NewsBank's CEO, had a connection to the university. He was a trustee and president-elect of the alumni association.
What NewsBank Covers
Vast News Collection
In 2013, NewsBank offered a service called Access World News. This service was known as the "world's largest full-text news database." By 2014, NewsBank had over 990 news sources. These included US state and national publications. It also covered television and radio programs.
NewsBank also has a special collection called "Black Life in America." This archive focuses on the experiences of Black people in the United States.
As of 2025, NewsBank has current and old information from many sources. These include thousands of newspapers, newswires, blogs, videos, and government documents. It is a global resource. It provides online information to many regions around the world.
Australian Coverage
The National Library of Australia offers online access to NewsBank. Many state and university libraries in Australia also provide this access. As of 2025, NewsBank has over 760 Australian sources. These include both national and regional publications. Most of these titles started coverage in the 1980s, 1990s, or 2000s.
Where NewsBank Is and Who Leads It
NewsBank's main office is in Naples, Florida, USA. It also has an office in Mitcham North, Melbourne, Australia.
Dan Jones is the company's founding president and CEO. His son, Danny (1972–2024), was the first president of the consumer division. He helped grow GenealogyBank. Dan Jones's daughters have also worked for NewsBank.
More to Explore
- GenealogyBank.com
- LexisNexis
- Westlaw
