Ocean County Library Receives Grant from New Jersey State Library to Digitize Ocean County Leader Newspaper

TOMS RIVER – The Ocean County Library has been named a recipient of New Jersey State Library’s REV250 Grant in the amount of $22,420, supporting public library celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary. The State Library is supporting selected public libraries across the state as they engage their communities in honoring New Jersey’s central role in the American Revolution.

Grant-funded projects span a wide range of initiatives, including digitization of historic newspapers, interactive exhibits, oral history archives, educational programming, and more. These efforts aim to ensure that New Jersey’s semiquincentennial celebration is inclusive, inspiring, and representative of the diverse communities that have shaped the state’s identity.

Ocean County Library’s project, “Digitizing an Ocean County Weekly: the Ocean County Leader,” will digitize over 40 years of the Ocean County Leader, the key newspaper for Point Pleasant Beach, Point Pleasant, Bay Head, Mantoloking, and Lavallette. Making it searchable online will unlock decades of local business history, school records, family announcements and more, benefitting researchers, students, genealogists, and historians, ensuring this vital part of Ocean County’s story is preserved and easily accessible to the public.

This project was funded by the New Jersey state Library’s REV 250: Examining the Semiquincentennial through a Jersey Lens.

Ocean County Library would like to extend gratitude to Alison M. Ertl, publisher of Star News Group, for giving copyright permission for the contents of Ocean County Leader to be made available through the library.

Based on the forecasted timeframe of the digitization process, the Ocean County Library aims to have the digitized content available by the summer of 2026. Sometime after that, the goal is to eventually make the information freely available on the library website without requiring the use of a library card.

OCL turns 100 this year and you’re why we’re celebrating! See details on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Spotify, Pinterest and theoceancountylibrary.org.