WESTFIELD – The Westfield Memorial Library located at 550 East Broad Street is pleased to announce that the latest complete year of The Leader, ( formerly The Westfield Leader) has been digitized and is now accessible on the library’s website.

Published first in 1890, The Leader has a long history in Westfield, and back copies have been available to the public on the library’s website for well over 10 years. Copies of the paper, extending from 1907 to the most recent year 2024, are digitized by Innovative Document Imaging (IDI).

Jennifer Schulze, head of Adult Services at the library, said, “We’re grateful for Lauren Barr, the owner and publisher of The Leader, for allowing us to make the papers accessible to our community. Lauren is a gem to work with, and there’s an excellent collaboration between the library, the paper and IDI.”

‘Making our archives publicly accessible is a critical way of preserving our local history for generations to come,’ said Mrs. Barr. ‘I’m incredibly grateful to the Westfield Memorial Library for hosting our archives dating back to the early 1900s.’

To find the newspaper on the library website www.wmlnj.org, readers should click on the Research tab, Local History on the drop-down menu, followed by the Newspapers link. Copies of The Westfield Record Press (1990-2007), the Union County Standard (1891-1915) and The Scotch Plains Times (1963-1989) can also be found at the Newspapers link. No library card is needed to access any of the library’s research resources.

To sign up for a library card, or learn more about the library’s resources, please visit https:// wmlnj.org/, and follow the library on Instagram. Library hours are Monday – Thursday 9:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; and Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m. The library will be closed December 24 and 25 for Christmas. It will close at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 31 for New Year’s Eve and be closed on Thursday, January 1 for NewYear’s Day.