You will need your BCPL library card number and PIN/password to access the Baltimore Sun newspaper using BCPL's online database subscriptions.
The easiest way is via the PressReader database but that only goes back to 2004. The other way to access is via ProQuest Current and Historic Newspapers database (1837-current).
Directions to access both are below.
- Start by going to BCPL's home page at www.bcpl.info
- Look under the Books and More tab.
- Select Research Databases.
- Look in the left panel, where it says Database Categories.
- Look under the first section, Subject, scroll down and select check mark the small box next to Newspapers and Magazines..
- Scroll down to the end of the the left menu and select the Submit button.
​PressReader (2004 to present)
- Scroll to the end of the newspaper and magazine results list on the Research Databases page and select PressReader.
- See the directions here to learn How to Use PressReader.
ProQuest (1837 to present)
- Scroll to the end of the results list and select ProQuest: Current and Historic Newspapers. NOTE: this is text based only, there are no pictures or images in ProQuest Current Newspapers. There are some images/phots in the Historic Newspapers.
- You should be prompted to log into your library account at this point. NOTE: if using the databases extensively, to speed up the login process you can create a Username to log in with instead of having to type out the 14 digit card number every time. And/or you can set the web browser to remember your login info.
- After entering the library account login information, you should land on the ProQuest Newspapers database main page.
- Select "Change Databases".
- Then click in the "Select All" box to uncheck or deselect all the databases.
- Now select the database you want.
- For content from 1990 to present, select "Baltimore Sun (1990 - current)".
- Or for content from 1837 to 1998, select "ProQuest Historical Newspapers - Baltimore Sun (1837-1996)".
- Click the "Use selected databases" button.
- Deselect all then select either Current or Historic Sun or both.
- Enter a search term.
- If you are looking for a specific issue of the newspaper, you can click "Publications" (as shown below).
- Click the small link to "The Baltimore Sun" or "The Sun (1837-)".
- All the articles in that database should be listed, starting with those from the most current edition.
- Click on any article title to open it.
- Use the date filters to narrow the results down to a shorter time range as shown below.
