It is with great respect that we acknowledge the sacrifices made by men and women who have fought and died in all theatres of war.
Reading about the events of the Gallipoli landings, and other conflicts where Australians have served, is being made easier by the digitisation of old records, newspapers, diaries and images, and many of these valuable collections are being made available on the internet.
Thuringowa Library members can access the Times Digital Archive at http://library.thuringowa.qld.gov.au/databases.htm and search the full text of every page of the London Times newspaper, from 1785 to 1985. This amazing resource allows users to search by keyword (try search words like Gallipoli or Anzac) or date (try starting from the 27th April, 1915). You can progress through the days, weeks, and months that follow, reading first-hand reporting of the Gallipoli campaign, admittedly from an English point of view.
The articles appear as original copies from the newspaper, which lends an authentic feel to the writing. Articles can be saved, emailed or printed.
PictureAustralia (www.pictureaustralia.org) is a feely accessible website with over a million images of Australia’s history and culture. Browse a special Gallipoli – 90 years ‘picture trail’. It draws together an incredible collection of historical images of Anzac soldiers. There is a search facility on this site, which is very useful if you are looking for a particular military unit or person.
Finally, go to the Visit Gallipoli site (www.anzacsite.gov.au) by the Department of Veteran Affairs, and click on Links for a comprehensive list of links to other websites about the Anzacs and Gallipoli. This first link, and possibly one of the best, is to the excellent Australian War Memorial (www.awm.gov.au) website. There is a wealth of information here for people wanting to research family members who have served.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Centenary milestone for Searchlight
Just over two years ago the Searchlight column made its debut on these pages. With a bunch of ideas about internet searching, a lot of support from the staff at the Townsville Bulletin, and some great search questions from readers, librarians from Thuringowa Library Services have managed to keep up a steady stream of columns and today we celebrate our 100th Searchlight with a look to the past and future.
In our very first Searchlight column, we made the claim that “searching for information on the internet is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Sometimes it's like looking for a needle in a pile of needles! Fortunately librarians have been finding and organising information for thousands of years. The internet is an information tool that we use on a daily basis, and we enjoy helping others find the information they require. The best part about the service public libraries provide is it's free!”
Not much has changed there, except that now the internet seems to play an even bigger part of our working and personal lives.
We have received positive feedback from far and wide about how useful Searchlight is to people. Some people cut out each article and keep it by their computer for future reference, and others pass articles on to family and friends. We have helped many people with tricky internet search questions, and have even won a national award for this innovative service.
Today we take great pride in launching Searchlight by email. If you would like to receive Searchlight by email every Wednesday (after publication in the Townsville Bulletin on Mondays), send an email to join-searchlight@lists.slq.qld.gov.au leaving the subject line and message fields blank. You will receive an email message asking you to reply to authenticate your subscription. Then you will receive a welcoming email, giving you a brief description of the email list and information on how to unsubscribe from the Searchlight email list.
As much as the internet and online information continues to evolve and change, we are still convinced that libraries can offer a free, unique service in helping people to find, evaluate and use information. We will continue to share our hints, tips and tools-of-the-trade via this column, to help make your internet searching more efficient, effective and fun!
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
In our very first Searchlight column, we made the claim that “searching for information on the internet is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Sometimes it's like looking for a needle in a pile of needles! Fortunately librarians have been finding and organising information for thousands of years. The internet is an information tool that we use on a daily basis, and we enjoy helping others find the information they require. The best part about the service public libraries provide is it's free!”
Not much has changed there, except that now the internet seems to play an even bigger part of our working and personal lives.
We have received positive feedback from far and wide about how useful Searchlight is to people. Some people cut out each article and keep it by their computer for future reference, and others pass articles on to family and friends. We have helped many people with tricky internet search questions, and have even won a national award for this innovative service.
Today we take great pride in launching Searchlight by email. If you would like to receive Searchlight by email every Wednesday (after publication in the Townsville Bulletin on Mondays), send an email to join-searchlight@lists.slq.qld.gov.au leaving the subject line and message fields blank. You will receive an email message asking you to reply to authenticate your subscription. Then you will receive a welcoming email, giving you a brief description of the email list and information on how to unsubscribe from the Searchlight email list.
As much as the internet and online information continues to evolve and change, we are still convinced that libraries can offer a free, unique service in helping people to find, evaluate and use information. We will continue to share our hints, tips and tools-of-the-trade via this column, to help make your internet searching more efficient, effective and fun!
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Friday, April 15, 2005
Academic journals may hold answers
Occasionally you may need to research a particular topic in-depth, and an academic article or journal may hold the answers you seek. Academic journals are respected sources of information as often they contain peer-reviewed articles written by academics. While many journals are only available through databases to which an institution subscribes, such as those available through Thuringowa library, there are a couple of places to try for free access to academic articles.One option is to try a quick search in a search engine by typing inthe name or topic of the article and the name of the author. You may be luckyenough to find the article but it may come together with a lot of unrelatedinformation.Google scholar (http://scholar.google.com) is a recent product from Google intesting (beta version). This free service enables searching for academic articles, theses and reports from a variety of academic sources and the web. Simple and advanced searching allows you to search by keyword, author, title, publication name and date. The results will include a mix of free and restricted access articles. It is worth reading About Google Scholar section for more information on the service and to access Frequently Asked Questions.
Highwire Press (http://highwire.stanford.edu./lists/freeart.dtl) is another serviceproviding free online access to journals and magazines with a particularemphasis on science. Highwire Press provides excellent subject searchingcapabilities. When you enter search words such as "global warming" a list of related search terms such as Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change appear on the right hand side. You can click on these to further pursue your research trail.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Highwire Press (http://highwire.stanford.edu./lists/freeart.dtl) is another serviceproviding free online access to journals and magazines with a particularemphasis on science. Highwire Press provides excellent subject searchingcapabilities. When you enter search words such as "global warming" a list of related search terms such as Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change appear on the right hand side. You can click on these to further pursue your research trail.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Factmonster: both fun and factual!
Did you know that on this day Martin Luthar King, Jr. was assassinated (in 1968), the ribbon was cut to open the World Trade Centre in New York City (in1973) and the town of Kangra in India suffered an earthquake which killed more than 20, 000 citizens (in 1905)?
If its timely facts like this which fascinate you then you ought to visit Factmonster (www.factmonster.com). This vibrantly coloured website is aimed at kids (aged 8 – 14 yrs) and has a number of daily updated features including “today in history”, “today’s birthday”, a “word quiz” (with a sound file attached for pronunciation), a daily “analogy” and a “spelling bee”. All of these elements are just as entertaining and educational for adults!
However if you are on a mission to do your homework (or assist your child with their homework) then Factmonster can offer you easy access to an online atlas, dictionary, encyclopedia and several almanacs (which feature current facts on a wide range of topics). It’s a single search engine which allows you to search several sources at the same time.
To conduct a search, enter a keyword into the search box at the top of the homepage and click on “go”. Factmonster will trawl through all the almanacs, the Columbia Encyclopedia and the Infoplease Dictionary at once. On your search result page you’ll be able to easily identify from which source the information has been extracted. Be aware that Factmonster is a US site and therefore presents information primarily of interest to North Americans. Consequently, a search on an Australian topic may return limited information.
Standard, clickable categories presented on the homepage include Sports, Science, Math, Games & Quizzes and a Homework Centre. Click on one of these topics to drill down through subcategories. The Homework Centre features six subjects (English, Math, Science, Geography, Language Arts and Social Studies) as well as tips to improve writing, speaking and listening skills.
Don’t miss the Help button to access a list of frequently asked questions and the details of the actual information sources (encyclopedia, almanacs etc) used by the search engine. If you are engaged in serious research don’t miss the “Citing Fact Monster” link down the very bottom of the homepage for helpful instructions on how to reference the information you have found in your assignment or project.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
If its timely facts like this which fascinate you then you ought to visit Factmonster (www.factmonster.com). This vibrantly coloured website is aimed at kids (aged 8 – 14 yrs) and has a number of daily updated features including “today in history”, “today’s birthday”, a “word quiz” (with a sound file attached for pronunciation), a daily “analogy” and a “spelling bee”. All of these elements are just as entertaining and educational for adults!
However if you are on a mission to do your homework (or assist your child with their homework) then Factmonster can offer you easy access to an online atlas, dictionary, encyclopedia and several almanacs (which feature current facts on a wide range of topics). It’s a single search engine which allows you to search several sources at the same time.
To conduct a search, enter a keyword into the search box at the top of the homepage and click on “go”. Factmonster will trawl through all the almanacs, the Columbia Encyclopedia and the Infoplease Dictionary at once. On your search result page you’ll be able to easily identify from which source the information has been extracted. Be aware that Factmonster is a US site and therefore presents information primarily of interest to North Americans. Consequently, a search on an Australian topic may return limited information.
Standard, clickable categories presented on the homepage include Sports, Science, Math, Games & Quizzes and a Homework Centre. Click on one of these topics to drill down through subcategories. The Homework Centre features six subjects (English, Math, Science, Geography, Language Arts and Social Studies) as well as tips to improve writing, speaking and listening skills.
Don’t miss the Help button to access a list of frequently asked questions and the details of the actual information sources (encyclopedia, almanacs etc) used by the search engine. If you are engaged in serious research don’t miss the “Citing Fact Monster” link down the very bottom of the homepage for helpful instructions on how to reference the information you have found in your assignment or project.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Friday, April 08, 2005
Thursday, March 31, 2005
'Face-to-face' help on careers
The internet has a wealth of information for jobseekers, however knowing where to look for quality information, and then making sense of it, is sometimes difficult. Wouldn’t it be great to have a helping hand to guide you though the information maze?
ASK (Adult Skills and Knowledge) is an innovative chat service being piloted by the State Library of Queensland. The service is for adults looking for information about careers, jobs, resumes, job applications, interview technique, apprenticeships, study, volunteer work and more.
Log on to www.slq.qld.gov.au/ask and click on the big ASK logo, and a special chat window will open in a new screen. Simply enter your name, email address and a question, and a librarian from the State Library will answer your request. If you are not familiar with ‘chatting’ on the internet, it is very similar to having a conversation with someone face-to-face. As the librarians type in an answer, it appears on your screen. You can then respond with a comment or another question, and the conversation or chat goes back and forth until your question is answered. The really smart thing about the ASK service is that they can ‘push’ webpages to your screen. For example, if you need information about what study courses are available in a certain trade, the librarian can do some internet searching for you, and then ‘push’ a suitable webpage that may answer your question, to your screen. You can then read and navigate through that screen, and ask further questions using the chat section.
Finally, once the chat session is complete, the ASK program produces a list of all the websites that the librarian ‘pushed’ to your screen during the session. This is invaluable as it provides a ready list of websites to visit later, without having to search for them all over again. If you supply an email address when you log into the service, you will receive a transcript of the entire conversation you had with the librarian.
If your question really stumps the librarian, they will get back to you within five working days.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
ASK (Adult Skills and Knowledge) is an innovative chat service being piloted by the State Library of Queensland. The service is for adults looking for information about careers, jobs, resumes, job applications, interview technique, apprenticeships, study, volunteer work and more.
Log on to www.slq.qld.gov.au/ask and click on the big ASK logo, and a special chat window will open in a new screen. Simply enter your name, email address and a question, and a librarian from the State Library will answer your request. If you are not familiar with ‘chatting’ on the internet, it is very similar to having a conversation with someone face-to-face. As the librarians type in an answer, it appears on your screen. You can then respond with a comment or another question, and the conversation or chat goes back and forth until your question is answered. The really smart thing about the ASK service is that they can ‘push’ webpages to your screen. For example, if you need information about what study courses are available in a certain trade, the librarian can do some internet searching for you, and then ‘push’ a suitable webpage that may answer your question, to your screen. You can then read and navigate through that screen, and ask further questions using the chat section.
Finally, once the chat session is complete, the ASK program produces a list of all the websites that the librarian ‘pushed’ to your screen during the session. This is invaluable as it provides a ready list of websites to visit later, without having to search for them all over again. If you supply an email address when you log into the service, you will receive a transcript of the entire conversation you had with the librarian.
If your question really stumps the librarian, they will get back to you within five working days.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Monday, March 21, 2005
Uni experts lend a hand
University and academic institutions such as James Cook University are a very useful resource when seeking quality information on the internet. With the right search approach you may be able to access Subject Guides recommending specific internet resources in the area you need. Subject Guides are usually developed by librarians in consultation with faculty and lecturers in the courses offered by educational institutions. The guides are usually constantly updated, monitored for quality, and reviewed for relevance by information experts in their field who keep up to date with what is required by lecturers, course providers and industry.
Some resources listed will only be accessible by university staff and students, but often there will be free online resources selected and recommended because of their quality. These websites are often appropriate for school use and general knowledge.
There a couple of different search techniques to try when seeking online academic Subject Guides.
It is possible to search Google University (http://www.google.com.au/options/universities.html) which lists universities alphabetically and has worldwide coverage. Only some of the major Australian universities are listed, such as Monash University, QUT and University of New South Wales. Click on the link to the university and Google University allows you to search within that institution's web pages. For example, clicking on University of New South Wales and entering “criminal law subject guide” as a search takes you straight to the Library's Subject Guide page for criminal law.
An alternative approach is to first find the university home page using a search engine. Once within that homepage, locate the Library homepage and either browse looking for Subject Guides, Subject Resources or Pathfinders, or search within the site if such a facility is available.
The third way to search is to choose Advanced Search within a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or Alltheweb. Type your topic name together with the words “subject guide” in the search space, for instance “biology subject guide”. Most importantly, restrict the domain in advanced search to .edu or .edu.au to restrict the results to educational sites within Australia. In this example the first result returned in a Google Advanced search was the Central Queensland University's Biology Subject Guide which provides a list of Biology-related web sites.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Some resources listed will only be accessible by university staff and students, but often there will be free online resources selected and recommended because of their quality. These websites are often appropriate for school use and general knowledge.
There a couple of different search techniques to try when seeking online academic Subject Guides.
It is possible to search Google University (http://www.google.com.au/options/universities.html) which lists universities alphabetically and has worldwide coverage. Only some of the major Australian universities are listed, such as Monash University, QUT and University of New South Wales. Click on the link to the university and Google University allows you to search within that institution's web pages. For example, clicking on University of New South Wales and entering “criminal law subject guide” as a search takes you straight to the Library's Subject Guide page for criminal law.
An alternative approach is to first find the university home page using a search engine. Once within that homepage, locate the Library homepage and either browse looking for Subject Guides, Subject Resources or Pathfinders, or search within the site if such a facility is available.
The third way to search is to choose Advanced Search within a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or Alltheweb. Type your topic name together with the words “subject guide” in the search space, for instance “biology subject guide”. Most importantly, restrict the domain in advanced search to .edu or .edu.au to restrict the results to educational sites within Australia. In this example the first result returned in a Google Advanced search was the Central Queensland University's Biology Subject Guide which provides a list of Biology-related web sites.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Monday, March 14, 2005
Searching for Answers
When you think about your internet search habits, would you agree that you’re often searching for an ‘answer’, rather than a ‘webpage’? For example, you may want to check what time a movie is screening this weekend. To find that, you first have to search for the cinema’s homepage, then look up the movie times. Wouldn’t it be great if you could find the movie times with one quick search? Some of the bigger search tools such as Yahoo! (http://au.yahoo.com/) now have a range of shortcuts which help you to find ‘answers’ quickly and easily, without wading through ‘websites’.
If you need to find out the current time in London, you could type search words such as “international time” or “time conversion” into a search engine, choose a likely website from the results, then use the conversion tool on that website. With Yahoo!, simply type “time in London”, and the first result presented is a Yahoo! Shortcut which tells you the current time and date in London, UK. Below that you will find the usual list of search results.
Try typing “weather Perth” into Yahoo! and the first result is another Yahoo! Shortcut, this time showing the current time, temperature, conditions (raining, fine etc) and expected high and low temperatures for Perth.
A full list of Shortcuts relevant to Australian searchers is available at http://au.docs.yahoo.com/info/search/shortcuts.html
To see how far Yahoo! has extended this type of service, check out the US Shortcuts list at http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/
Another useful service that Yahoo! offers is its speciality sites (http://au.docs.yahoo.com/more/index.html), which act as one-stop-shops for a variety of searches, products and services. For example, the Sports area has a NRL site at http://au.sports.yahoo.com/nrl/ where you can keep track of Rugby League news, check the points table, enter your comments in a discussion board, get information about the teams and much more. Check out the other specialty services such as News, Finance, Cars, Real Estate and Jobs.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
If you need to find out the current time in London, you could type search words such as “international time” or “time conversion” into a search engine, choose a likely website from the results, then use the conversion tool on that website. With Yahoo!, simply type “time in London”, and the first result presented is a Yahoo! Shortcut which tells you the current time and date in London, UK. Below that you will find the usual list of search results.
Try typing “weather Perth” into Yahoo! and the first result is another Yahoo! Shortcut, this time showing the current time, temperature, conditions (raining, fine etc) and expected high and low temperatures for Perth.
A full list of Shortcuts relevant to Australian searchers is available at http://au.docs.yahoo.com/info/search/shortcuts.html
To see how far Yahoo! has extended this type of service, check out the US Shortcuts list at http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/
Another useful service that Yahoo! offers is its speciality sites (http://au.docs.yahoo.com/more/index.html), which act as one-stop-shops for a variety of searches, products and services. For example, the Sports area has a NRL site at http://au.sports.yahoo.com/nrl/ where you can keep track of Rugby League news, check the points table, enter your comments in a discussion board, get information about the teams and much more. Check out the other specialty services such as News, Finance, Cars, Real Estate and Jobs.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Searching with A9
The Internet is easy to use, but using it well is not easy.
Have you ever discovered a really useful website and then not been able to locate it again? This is not an uncommon event, however there is a search engine that will remember your search history for you and store it so that you can access it from any computer.
A9 (www.a9.com) is a search engine subsidised by Amazon.com (a premier online bookstore). It combines a number of searchable online resources into one site. For instance, enter a keyword/s to describe your topic and you’ll be able to view a number of search results all on one page, displayed in a flexible column format which can be customised by you. There will be a web and image result sourced from Google, a movie result courtesy of the Internet Movie Database and a reference result from GuruNet. GuruNet is a search engine which provides access to a range of reference tools such as dictionaries and encyclopedias. Consequently it will not direct you to other websites but instantly provide you with facts and information.
A9’s ability to search a number of resources at once is a great time saver, however it’s the additional features made available through the toolbar that make it truly worthwhile. The A9 toolbar, which can be picked up from the site, should only take a few minutes to download.
Once you have it, A9 will log where you have been on the Internet and will indicate when you last visited a site eg “clicked on 1 month ago” or “clicked on 2 hours ago”.
It will reference the web pages you saw and automatically save your entries. You can even make a diary of personalised notes about the web pages you have viewed. Other features include the ability to create your own bookmarks and automatic highlighting of search terms. Your bookmarks, search history and diary are stored on the A9 servers and are therefore accessible from any computer you use.
Useful tools such as those provided by A9 give all of us the opportunity to increase our Internet research skills by tracking and documenting our own personal searching behaviour. It allows us the chance to reflect on our previous search strategies via the diary and search history and become more efficient users of the Internet.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Have you ever discovered a really useful website and then not been able to locate it again? This is not an uncommon event, however there is a search engine that will remember your search history for you and store it so that you can access it from any computer.
A9 (www.a9.com) is a search engine subsidised by Amazon.com (a premier online bookstore). It combines a number of searchable online resources into one site. For instance, enter a keyword/s to describe your topic and you’ll be able to view a number of search results all on one page, displayed in a flexible column format which can be customised by you. There will be a web and image result sourced from Google, a movie result courtesy of the Internet Movie Database and a reference result from GuruNet. GuruNet is a search engine which provides access to a range of reference tools such as dictionaries and encyclopedias. Consequently it will not direct you to other websites but instantly provide you with facts and information.
A9’s ability to search a number of resources at once is a great time saver, however it’s the additional features made available through the toolbar that make it truly worthwhile. The A9 toolbar, which can be picked up from the site, should only take a few minutes to download.
Once you have it, A9 will log where you have been on the Internet and will indicate when you last visited a site eg “clicked on 1 month ago” or “clicked on 2 hours ago”.
It will reference the web pages you saw and automatically save your entries. You can even make a diary of personalised notes about the web pages you have viewed. Other features include the ability to create your own bookmarks and automatic highlighting of search terms. Your bookmarks, search history and diary are stored on the A9 servers and are therefore accessible from any computer you use.
Useful tools such as those provided by A9 give all of us the opportunity to increase our Internet research skills by tracking and documenting our own personal searching behaviour. It allows us the chance to reflect on our previous search strategies via the diary and search history and become more efficient users of the Internet.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Searching the Family Tree
The Internet is an excellent resource to use when undertaking research in family history. In fact researching one’s family tree and ancestral background can often lead to people’s first taste of the internet and there are plenty of quality research avenues to follow. The topic is too broad to review in depth therefore this article will refer you to key sites where you can find guides to Internet resources on family history.
Searchlight recommends using the experience and know-how of the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the State Library of Queensland (SLQ). These institutions hold specialist collections in family history and field questions from all over Australia about the topic on a daily basis. Both libraries have developed excellent subject guides which list freely available internet resources on family history.
The SLQ website for family and local historians (www.slq.qld.gov.au/serv/fh) has some very handy guides about how to start your research. Topics include How to trace your family tree and Convict information: getting started. The guide also recommends searching in Queensland Web or Netlinks (www.slq.qld.gov.au/find/sites) where you can browse through geographical and other subdivisions. This is a great way to find the details of family history associations in other towns and cities.
THE NLA’s guide is titled Australian Family History and Genealogy on the Internet (www.nla.gov.au/oz/genelist.html). This guide lists the key original source websites which can provide records on births, marriages, deaths, cemeteries, convicts, military/service records and more. For those searching for ancestral information overseas, the NLA site points to important and interesting resources such as the Proceedings of the Old Bailey, where you can search through the accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court!
For a more local flavour the Family History Association of North Queensland Inc. has a website useful for those interested in their North Queensland origins located at http://members.hn.ozemail.com.au/fhanq
Take advantage of the free valuable expertise and collections that your State and National libraries have to offer to make your family history fact finding as successful as possible. Both these institutions provide email and telephone contact details for further advice.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Searchlight recommends using the experience and know-how of the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the State Library of Queensland (SLQ). These institutions hold specialist collections in family history and field questions from all over Australia about the topic on a daily basis. Both libraries have developed excellent subject guides which list freely available internet resources on family history.
The SLQ website for family and local historians (www.slq.qld.gov.au/serv/fh) has some very handy guides about how to start your research. Topics include How to trace your family tree and Convict information: getting started. The guide also recommends searching in Queensland Web or Netlinks (www.slq.qld.gov.au/find/sites) where you can browse through geographical and other subdivisions. This is a great way to find the details of family history associations in other towns and cities.
THE NLA’s guide is titled Australian Family History and Genealogy on the Internet (www.nla.gov.au/oz/genelist.html). This guide lists the key original source websites which can provide records on births, marriages, deaths, cemeteries, convicts, military/service records and more. For those searching for ancestral information overseas, the NLA site points to important and interesting resources such as the Proceedings of the Old Bailey, where you can search through the accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court!
For a more local flavour the Family History Association of North Queensland Inc. has a website useful for those interested in their North Queensland origins located at http://members.hn.ozemail.com.au/fhanq
Take advantage of the free valuable expertise and collections that your State and National libraries have to offer to make your family history fact finding as successful as possible. Both these institutions provide email and telephone contact details for further advice.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Monday, February 21, 2005
Searching for a local result
Searching for a local result
Local search, one of the more interesting developments in internet search technology to emerge overseas last year has now made its way to Australia, courtesy of Yahoo! Australia and NZ Local Search (http://au.local.yahoo.com).
The Yahoo! Local Search screen presents a regular, clean looking search interface, however there are two search boxes instead of one.
The first box asks you to “Search for…a keyword or business name”, and the second box asks for “In…a city, state or Post Code”. To use this new kind of search, you type what product, service or business you’re looking for in the first box, and a physical location in the second box. For example, you might search for “coffee” in “Kirwan”, or “wine tours” in “Tasmania” or even “removalists” in “4810”.
The Advanced Search pages offers even more options, such as narrowing your search to a specific street name. There is also a very useful Guided Search option which takes you through a search step-by-step.
Once the results of your search appear, you’ll see the name, address and phone number of businesses and organisations which match your search words and location. If Yahoo! doesn’t find enough results to match the location you searched for, it will automatically expand the search to surrounding suburbs or regions. It also offers some suggestions for similar categories of business or organisation.
Clicking on one of the results gives even more details. Most companies have further information about their products and services, links to their email and internet addresses (if available) and even a street map. Theses details can be printed or emailed.
Some practice searches for local businesses and services produced some unusual results for the local area. We assume that emphasis has been placed on the capital cities initially, and we’ll be interested to see if the local results improve over time. Fortunately there is a feedback page where errors can be reported, and businesses and organisations who don’t appear in a search can apply online to have their details added. Be sure to check out the “Help” page for more hints on using this interesting service.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Local search, one of the more interesting developments in internet search technology to emerge overseas last year has now made its way to Australia, courtesy of Yahoo! Australia and NZ Local Search (http://au.local.yahoo.com).
The Yahoo! Local Search screen presents a regular, clean looking search interface, however there are two search boxes instead of one.
The first box asks you to “Search for…a keyword or business name”, and the second box asks for “In…a city, state or Post Code”. To use this new kind of search, you type what product, service or business you’re looking for in the first box, and a physical location in the second box. For example, you might search for “coffee” in “Kirwan”, or “wine tours” in “Tasmania” or even “removalists” in “4810”.
The Advanced Search pages offers even more options, such as narrowing your search to a specific street name. There is also a very useful Guided Search option which takes you through a search step-by-step.
Once the results of your search appear, you’ll see the name, address and phone number of businesses and organisations which match your search words and location. If Yahoo! doesn’t find enough results to match the location you searched for, it will automatically expand the search to surrounding suburbs or regions. It also offers some suggestions for similar categories of business or organisation.
Clicking on one of the results gives even more details. Most companies have further information about their products and services, links to their email and internet addresses (if available) and even a street map. Theses details can be printed or emailed.
Some practice searches for local businesses and services produced some unusual results for the local area. We assume that emphasis has been placed on the capital cities initially, and we’ll be interested to see if the local results improve over time. Fortunately there is a feedback page where errors can be reported, and businesses and organisations who don’t appear in a search can apply online to have their details added. Be sure to check out the “Help” page for more hints on using this interesting service.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Ph: 4773 8601
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Ensuring a tip-top reference
Most people at sometime in their lives will have the need to know how to reference webpages as a source of information, whether it relates to their own studies, that of a student in their family, or for a workplace report or document.
Referencing is a standardised method of acknowledging the sources of information and ideas you have used in an essay, assignment or report. At the end of your document, most organisations require you to provide a list of materials you have used, including webpages, in writing the document. This list is most often referred to as a bibliography. Sometimes this job is left until the last moment by many people and this can add great stress to the need to cite references correctly!
Different fields of study use different referencing styles and so it is important to find out which one your teacher, lecturer or business prefers. Once a style is chosen, the most important aspect of using it are consistency and accuracy. James Cook University Library has a useful list of the most well known referencing styles including explanations and links to other authoritative websites on the topic.(http://www.library.jcu.edu.au/LibraryGuides/refstyles.shtml)
The most important things to remember when referencing a webpage or online document are to include the author of the information (whether it’s a person, group or organisation), the date the information went onto the internet, the date you accessed the web page (since online information frequently changes), its title and the website address.
Providing a list of sources you have used to assist in the creation of your own work adds to your personal credibility as a scholar. It also shows respect to other researchers as you acknowledge their hard work. A great spin off is that it allows your reader to find further information on the topic. Lastly, a correct and truthful list of references combats plagiarism.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
http://library.thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Referencing is a standardised method of acknowledging the sources of information and ideas you have used in an essay, assignment or report. At the end of your document, most organisations require you to provide a list of materials you have used, including webpages, in writing the document. This list is most often referred to as a bibliography. Sometimes this job is left until the last moment by many people and this can add great stress to the need to cite references correctly!
Different fields of study use different referencing styles and so it is important to find out which one your teacher, lecturer or business prefers. Once a style is chosen, the most important aspect of using it are consistency and accuracy. James Cook University Library has a useful list of the most well known referencing styles including explanations and links to other authoritative websites on the topic.(http://www.library.jcu.edu.au/LibraryGuides/refstyles.shtml)
The most important things to remember when referencing a webpage or online document are to include the author of the information (whether it’s a person, group or organisation), the date the information went onto the internet, the date you accessed the web page (since online information frequently changes), its title and the website address.
Providing a list of sources you have used to assist in the creation of your own work adds to your personal credibility as a scholar. It also shows respect to other researchers as you acknowledge their hard work. A great spin off is that it allows your reader to find further information on the topic. Lastly, a correct and truthful list of references combats plagiarism.
Need some help searching the Web? Contact us and we'll do our best to help. Anything useful or interesting will be included in future articles (Confidentiality and your privacy are assured).
Thuringowa Library Services - Information Desk
Email: infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
http://library.thuringowa.qld.gov.au
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