There are 54 volumes of the NSW Post Office Directory digitised in Trove from the State Library of NSW, but it’s not easy to search inside. Associate Professor Tim Sherratt has downloaded all the text, indexed every line, and built a new search interface. With one query you can search across all 54 volumes from 1886 to 1950.
While Trove searches for ‘articles’, this interface searches by line, making it much easier to find particular names, places, or occupations. Once you’ve found an entry, you can see it in context and view a zoomable version of the page from Trove. Individuals rows also have embedded metadata, so you can easily capture the details in Zotero.
The workflow used to create this resource could be used with other digitised publications that are organised by line rather than article. All the code will be shared soon in the GLAM Workbench. Suggestions for future developments are welcome!