IU libraries has a tremendous amount of resources available for users wanting to do historical research. The News Databases-Historic tab to the left provides a complete list of current offerings to the IU research community. However, you might be in the need of something that is not digitized. Or you might not even know what it is that you need.
Let us say, for example, that you are trying to track down information about a bank robbery in Winfield, Kansas in the 1930's. Unfortunately there is no availability (digitally) of news papers from this time and location. However, IU libraries holds several directories to newspapers that can be helpful in this situation. The Ayer Directory of Publications (known under several variations of that name and now published by Gale) is a wonderful resource for historical research. Using the 1932 version, we can look up Winfield, KS and find that there were two newspapers during this time The Courier (with a circulation of 4,792) and the Southwestern Collegian (circulation of 850). Now that you have that information you can request copies of microfilm through Inter Library Loan here at IU.
Once you have the microfilm, you can view it using one of the three ST Viewscans in the Wells Library, located on the 2nd floor of the East Tower. 