Current issues of digitization of newspapers' collections are in the focus of this topic. There is discussed sharing of responsibilities on digitization of newspapers, selection of criteria and digitization priorities. Particularly, the determination of the scanning method (in the library or outsourced) and the solutions for the best representation of newspapers: as artifacts or as information set, are of great importance. There is provided the detailed analysis of the activities of federal and regional libraries, newspapers publishers and commercial information centers, dealing with digitization of the national printed newspapers. The emphasis was made to the problems of practical protection of copyright and intellectual property in digitization of the periodicals and in the usage of these materials by institutions, including libraries.