The Digital Viewer and Validator (DVV) is a tool developed at the Library of Congress (LC) for use by National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) staff, awardee institutions (originators of newspaper content), and vendors to allow viewing of NDNP data and validation of select technical aspects of the files. It includes validation processing that can be run from a DOS command line or the DVV’s own Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI). The DVV also allows visual inspection of NDNP image files, and viewing of OCR, image headers, and other metadata.
NDNP is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC) to create a national digital resource (Chronicling America) of historically significant newspapers published between 1690 and 1963, from all the states and U.S. jurisdictions. Institutions wishing to participate in the NDNP should consult the NEH Application Guidelines for information regarding the NEH’s annual solicitation of proposals for participation in the program.
DVV Version 2.3.0 was released internally to NDNP awardees on May 25, 2023 and publicly via Github on August 22, 2023. See releases for more info.
Note: DVV Generation 2 (DVV2) Github releases will only include binaries or compiled code necessary for the DVV to be installed by users. While the source code of DVV2 is not currently available in Github, Generation 3 of the DVV is expected to be released as open source (with source code and binaries). Development on Generation 3 of the DVV is slated to begin in late 2023. Stay tuned for more updates.
Download the DVV User Guide (PDF, 1.7 KB) for detailed system requirements, installation instructions, and tips for using and troubleshooting DVV Version 2.3.0.
Detailed instructions for using the DVV can be found in the DVV User Guide. For questions or support, contact LC NDNP staff ([email protected]).