Issue date: 7/31/08 Section: NEWS

Yucca yearbooks from the 1930s are part of the collection on the second floor of Willis Library, which has yearbooks ranging from the original 1905 Cottontail to the most recent editions of the Aerie. Photo Credit David Minton NT Daily

The "Aerie" yearbook will no longer be published, but the UNT libraries are working to digitize the yearbooks.

"We are going to digitize every yearbook," said Jeremy Moore, lab manager for digital projects unit, "but we haven't decided how recent we will go. That depends on funding."

Moore said the Digital Projects Unit with the UNT Libraries is working on digitizing the first yearbook, which was published in 1905, up to the 1950s yearbook. Since the project is internal, digitizing more recent issues depends on funding.

Moore said the project is in progress and the library has not decided if the yearbook will be uploaded to the university's digital library collection or to The Portal of Texas History, a collection of Texas libraries, museums, archives, historical societies and private collections. He added that people can search text to find people or groups.

"We have heard some great things from alumni because they can go back and connect," Moore said. "It is also good for general research."

Mary Finley, advisor to Aerie and assistant director of the union administration, said one of the main reasons the publication stopped was because students are not interested in buying yearbooks. The other reasons included an increased cost of production.

Finley added that other Texas universities do not have a yearbook, such as the University of Houston, the University of Texas at Arlington and Texas State University.

"Obviously, I am really sad the yearbook doesn't exist anymore, but it seems outdated at the college level because you have Facebook that allows you to create your own yearbook," said photojournalism senior Rebecca Evans, one of last year's photographers.

The decision to stop publication was made by Union Director Tom Rufer and the student development division. Finley said UNT may decide to have a yearbook again in the future.

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