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
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