NEW BEDFORD —The New Bedford Public Library fields many requests for help finding Standard-Times articles it has on microfilm, from the Nantucket Sea Serpent Hoax of 1937 to a loved one’s obituary.

Finding that obituary can be difficult and time-consuming.

If your memory of the date is vague, the microfilm archives have to be scrolled through day-by-day in hopes of locating the right date among 365 annual, multi-page options.

But the Library now offers an alphabetical index by year and last name of every obituary published in the Standard-Times from 1968 to the present. It provides the date of publication, section, and page number.That makes locating the obituary on microfilm far quicker and easier.

If compiling all that information seems like a lot of work, that’s because compiling all that information was a lot of work.

Library Director Olivia Melo said Library staff took on the task during the 15 months the building was closed due to COVID.

“We needed to find projects for people and here was a project that we never had the time to work on,” she said.“We are a city that cares deeply about family, community, and celebrating our family histories,” Melo added. “This is a great example of work done by library staff during the hours we were closed to the public. Even with the doors closed, our library staff continued to work on projects that benefit the community.”