Wednesday, September 23, 2009

17th, 18th 19th newspapers











Tell me
Searching in both of these Gale databases is very similar.
17th and 18th CENTURY BURNEY COLLECTION NEWSPAPERS
Includes newspapers, newsbooks, Acts of Parliament, addresses, broadsides, pamphlets, proclamations, with titles from London, British Isles, and colonies.
19th CENTURY BRITISH LIBRARY NEWSPAPERS
National and regional newspapers held by the British Library.

Show me
Help is available via the top bar, towards the right.

Try me
The two databases are found on the Information on the Web page under "Magazines and Newspapers", then under “Historical Newspapers.”

Test me
17th and 18th CENTURY BURNEY COLLECTION NEWSPAPERS

1. How many papers are included for Dublin?

2. Is the Bucks Gazette included?

3. What is the Burney Collection?

(Tip About)

4. Why was Thomas Batchelder sentenced to death?

19th CENTURY BRITISH LIBRARY NEWSPAPERS

1. What position did Mr. Batchelder hold in 1837?
(Tip read the whole article, not just the highlighted part.)

2. Who did the Rev. Henry Frederick Hutton marry? When? When did his wife die? When did Henry die?

3. Where was the SS Great Britain in 1852?

Friday, September 18, 2009




Tell me
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985 is the complete newspaper digitised for 200 years.
The pages have been completely scanned.
This database has remote access, and items can be both printed and emailed.
Show me
Searching can be undertaken in various ways; see Help in the blue left hand side bar.
In Advanced search, it is possible to search in predetermined categories ie People includes obituaries, births etc, and Business includes shipping.
The search term is highlighted in the article, and when printed, this highlighting prints as well.
Try me
The Times Digital Archive is found on the Information on the Web page under "Magazines and Newspapers", then under “Historical Newspapers.”
Test me
1. In the obituary of Miss Anne Hutton in 1918, how many lines of text were devoted to her, in comparison to other members of her family?
2. Was Crompton Hutton related to Anne? (Tip search the obituaries)
3. Limiting to Shipping News, how many articles are there on the Titanic?
Try clicking on Article, Page and PDF to see the different display modes.
Mark the above 3 articles and then view the Mark List.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Oxford Music Online

Tell me

Oxford Music Online was formerly known as Grove Music Online.. The database is based on the classic multivolume reference work on music known as ‘The new grove dictionary of music and musicians’.

The database includes –
The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians
It covers music, music history, instruments, composers, performers. Continually updated. Traditionally the content covered classical music only, this has been extended to include well known popular performers and musicians.

Oxford companion to music
Focuses on western music traditions. Includes composers, performers, conductors, instruments, notation etc. Includes jazz, popular music and dance.

Oxford dictionary of music

The above resources can be searched individually or across the 3 at once.

The ‘New Grove dictionary of jazz’ and the ‘New Grove dictionary of opera’ are based on the print versions. These are basically static as they are not updated. You can no longer search these resources separately for articles, but links to them can be found through the results page of a general search.



Search tips
* Use double quotation marks for phrases.
* Wildcards such as * can be used to replace letters if you are unsure of the spelling.
* Once articles are retrieved there are links to illustrations, sounds, related links, article search.
* A general search is a keyword search and will highlight the term found throughout the article.
* To find the main article use the ‘Subject’ entry then click on ‘Related content’ for more references.
* Use the ’Advanced search’ to narrow your search to biographies, lists of works by a composer, web links and discographies.
* Use ‘Tools and resources’ tab to locate timelines, topical guides, such as, periods of music history, women composers and more.

Show me

Guided tour
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/media/GMO_Guided_Tour.pps




The 'Help' button at the top of the screen provides datails on how to search.


Try me

The link to Oxford Music online can be found via the ‘Information on the web’ page under Arts or A-Z databases.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/;jsessionid=9E5D31D2A7AA23EAB602267097C95333



Test me


1. What is Dame Nellie Melba’s birth name?

2. Using the ‘Oxford dictionary of music’ only, who composed ‘Chronochromie’? Search within the result page for a biographical article.

3. Find a general overview of the Baroque period of music. Name a major Baroque composer beginning with V. (Tools and Resources)

4. Using the advanced search find a list of solos written for piano by the composer Claude Debussy

5. Using the biography search feature of advanced search find a list of Australian composers

5. What are the two tuning systems used in a gamelan?

6. Find an article about Michael Jackson









Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Source

Tell me

The Source provides information about Children’s Literature with a strong emphasis on Australian material. The database is accessible from the library only.


Have you ever been asked for books suitable for a specific age group or theme.? The Source is a great starting point

Find books and poetry for various reading levels, book awards, short stories, author websites and short author biographies, book annotations and book themes.

Search by subject, author/illustrator, genre, age level, series and sequels, or book type. For example- beginners books, drama, graphic novels, picture books, poetry.

It is possible to create annotated booklists using the list maker.




Show me and Try me

The Source is for use in the library only. Go to the Information on the web page under Books and Reading – Children and teenage section, or Databases A-Z. The database is fairly self explanatory. Familirise yourself with the layout and scope under each tab.

e.g. Click 'Search Books and Authors'. Under the heading 'choose your search' browse the headings under genre and type. Look at the search features under each heading from the top green tool bar.


Test me

1. Picture books. Theme – hospitals. Age 3-6 What does the 'Magpie' indicate next to an entry?

2. Poem – full text. Theme- Droughts in Australia.
(Look under 'genre' to help refine your search)
3. Find the short list for Australian Children’s Book of the Year Awards 2010. Name 2 picture books that have been nominated and locate a summary of each
4. Find a short biographical profile of Leigh Hobbs.
5. Find a list of titles in the Deltora Quest 3 series of Emily Rodda. Create a list using the listmaker using author, title and series only.
6. Find an outline of the novel f2m by Hazel Edwards & Ryan Kennedy.
7. Locate short stories on the theme of bullying to suit a 12 year old. Note -Some entries may include the story fulltext.
8. There is also a feature to search the first line of a poem. Try – Advance Australia Fair.





ANCESTRY LIBRARY EDITION
Tell me

Ancestry Library Edition is a collection of ever increasing databases in the field of genealogy. In July 2009, it included 6,328 separate databases. (It is NOT what the public commonly refers to as ‘Ancestry’ or ‘Ancestry.com, which is a pay for subscription, and which in July 2009 included 28,905 databases) As its name indicates, it is for use only in libraries, not remotely. Ancestry Library Edition includes the most commonly used databases in Ancestry.com, including birth, death and marriage records, census returns, and immigration records. Australian material is being added constantly, but at the moment, the major areas represented are the USA and Great Britain. Most of our patrons use the British and Australian records.

Show me

In the top right hand corner of the home page, there is a link to Help, and inside this, another link to Learning Center. There are many pages of FAQ’s, but they are difficult to search.
More useful is the listing of recent databases, found near the bottom of the home page under More Collections. Here there is a list of databases added in the past 2 months, arranged by date added. However, the geographic listing of databases is much more useful; under the Search tab, click on a geographic area ie UK and Ireland, then England, and view the titles which are arranged into broad subject groupings such as Immigration and Emigration.

Try me

Ancestry Library Edition can be accessed in 2 ways, depending on which PC is being used.
If using a genealogy PC at Bulleen, Box Hill, Doncaster or Nunawading, the path is:-
Click on ‘All’ Ancestry Library Edition is the 3rd icon, follow the prompts.
If using a browsing PC, the path is Services, Genealogy, Ancestry Library Edition, follow the prompts. (Although Ancestry Library Edition can also be accessed Information on the Web page under "Genealogy” I recommend using the first option, as this leads patrons to the entire genealogy page, where they will find other useful information.


http://www.ancestrylibrary.com/default.aspx

Test me

Searching is more successful if the Search tab is used, not the Home tab. This is because a search made from Home searches all databases. Once in the Search tab, don’t use the drop down menu, just click on Search, drill down geographically, and then select one specific database, and search only within that.


Ancestry asks for a piece of software to be installed for optimal viewing of the digitized images. However, viewing is still fine, if this software is not installed.

The software is only installed on the 4 genie PC's at BOX, BUL, DON and NUN.

So when you get the message

Please contact your system administrator to install the Ancestry Image Viewer.To continue without installing the Ancestry Image Viewer, click here.

do just that, click on the link and proceed.

QUESTIONS

Who was in May Dwight’s family home in Buckinghamshire on the night of the 1901 census?
(Tip. Search, UK and Ireland, Census and Voter Lists, 1901 census)

How many times did Albert Batchelder born c1902 travel from England to Australia, what ships did he travel on? Is there a picture of any of the ships? What was his occupation?
(Tip. Search, UK and Ireland, UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960)

Where in South Melbourne, Victoria were May and William Ernest Gray living in 1919?
(Tip. Search, Australia, Australian Electoral Rolls, 1901-1936, scroll to the bottom, Victoria, check which years are included, scroll back up, enter search terms.)

When Joseph Barnes (12970) arrived in Tasmania in 1844 on the Lady Franklin 1, where had he come from, what was the name of the ship, when and where was the original conviction?

(Tip. Search, Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849, Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868