An ambitious project from the National Library of Australia and State Libraries of Australia, brings us the Australian Newspaper Digitisation Project. From the website:

“The Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program will initially be digitising approximately 3 million pages over 4 years, starting in July 2007. These pages will cover a range of titles from every state and territory, from the earliest newspaper published in Australia in 1803 through to the mid 1950’s. A further million pages from the Sydney Morning Herald 1831-1954 will also be digitised.”

So far they have digitised over a million pages.

From Victoria, the project is digitising the Argus and Melbourne Argus - the great Melbourne newspaper which closed down in the 1950’s. So far they have digitised 1915 to 1945. You can search all of the papers digitised thus far on the Australian Newspapers Beta website.

As the digitisation is being done using optical character recognition (OCR), viewers are invited to correct errors on the website as you go.

I did a quick search and found a car struck a wagonette in Narre Warren in October 1924, Airdrie won the Cranbourne Cup in 1923 and a cool store was planned for Pakenham in 1915.

Why not take some time and find out some interesting facts from our local history for yourself!

Michelle

The Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced with the winner for 2008 being The time we have taken by Steven Carroll. “The Miles Franklin Literary Award celebrates Australian character and creativity and nurtures the continuing life of literature about Australia. It is awarded for the novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases.”

There have been many award winning novels over many decades, so there is never a lack of finding a good book to read, especially one that is worthy of an award. But how do you find them?

A feature of our iBistro catalogue, which has fixed during a recent upgrade is the hot links under the search box on the catalogue main page. The two we are interested in for good reading ideas are Recommended Reading and Best Sellers.

Five links are offered in each category on our catalogue homepage, but the more link takes you to a longer list, which includes the Dymocks Top Ten, New York Times Fiction and winners of the Age Book of the Year, Children’s Book Council awards, Hugo and Nebula Science Fiction awards Man Booker Prize and Pulitzer Prize. Click on any of these links and it will give you the list of the titles we hold, that have won that award and where appropriate, what other awards it has won.

To find out where that book is, click on the details link to see the full catalogue record. If its not available, feel free to place a hold (which is also free) and enjoy some of the quality titles that have received international recognition.

You can also find award winning reading in our What do I read next database, which you can access from any computer with your library card number. This is a great tool to find other books like…. whether it be like a particular author, a specific genre or style and many other options. Take the time to explore, you never know, you might just find your next great read there!

Michelle

CCLC subscribes to over 350 different magazines on a huge range of subjects. From trash to deadly serious, there’s something for everyone. My current favourite is Psychology Today (great articles; strange ads). A tip for searching the catalogue: use the words and magazine after your search term - Eg. fitness and magazine or travel and magazine. All the issues that we have will be listed and you can place holds for all but the current edition.

A few facts… With some exceptions, we keep copies of magazines for two years before sending them off to booksale. They have a 2 week loan period and we review our subscriptions annually.

Have you wondered what the [CC] means on some magazine records? It stands for Casey-Cardinia. We found it was too confusing to share magazine records with our other library partners, as we do with books. Too many libraries, titles, editions and copies, so now we have own catalogue records. Eventually, all of our magazine records will show [CC].

If youre happy to read online, we offer an even bigger selection of magazines through our database subscriptions (these collections include general/popular magazines as well as Trade and Academic journals and often include a large backfile). Some examples include:

Choice

Australian Nursing Journal

Architecture Australia

Journal of Educational Research

You can set up an email alert that lets you know when a new edition is available. For help with this or searching for particular titles email us at information@cclc.vic.gov.aunospam (remove nospam from the address)

- Linda

Do you need to expand your knowledge of computer applications? Are you stuck because you don’t know one vital step in a process? CCLC is introducing The Computer School - a series of self-paced learning tutorials on a range of “How-do-I?” topics. Each tutorial has step-by-step instructions complete with images. Library members can access The Computer School from home. Check out the multiple tutorials on the following topics:

Computer Basics, Dreamweaver CS3, eCommerce, Frontpage, Internet, Internet Safety, Internet Research, Keyboard Shortcuts, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel 2003, Microsoft Powerpoint 2003, Microsoft Publisher 2007, Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007, Movie Maker (for Windows Vista), Photoshop CS3, Web design, Windows Vista

- Linda

Our state and national newspapers all have great websites and are quick and easy to access if you want to read today’s edition.  But what if you want to access an article from a week, a month or a year or so ago?

If you do so through the newspaper website, it will cost you.  If you do so through your library, it won’t!  We have access to the Herald Sun, the Age, the Australian and other major Australian daily newspapers through our ANZ Reference Center database.  You can search by the newspaper title, or just by using keywords and you will be able to quickly and easily access the full text of any article from these and many other Australian and international newspapers, going back many years, for free! (Unfortunately, this does not include advertisements or the classifieds.)

If you are after international newspapers, another of our databases, Press Display gives access to the current edition of major national newspapers from over 75 countries, including Italy, Israel, USA, Argentinia, Brazil, China and numerous international publications.  Each newspaper is presented to you electronically as it would be in its printed form, so you read it on screen in its native language.  The experience includes clicking a button to go to the next page with the virtual page turning over right before your very eyes. To read a particular article, you can zoom in to read it more easily.

If you like this way of reading newspapers online, you can also read the current edition of the Herald-Sun, the Age and the Australian through Press Display and experience the newspaper online, as you would in print.  Which of course includes the advertisements, the classifieds and the fun of turning virtual pages.

So why not make your newspaper explorations a bit easier and a bit more fun - try it out electronically @ your library website.

“Choice” - the magazine of the Australian Consumers’ Association is widely recognised as the source to go to for information on which appliances, electronics, computers and more to purchase when you are looking to buy. Their reviews are impartial and well respected.

However, finding the right review at the time you need it, can be problematic. Although your libraries lend the magazine, you usually find that the issue you want is out on loan at the time that you want it.  Choice Online offers you the opportunity to become a member and get reports from their website, but your library can go one better.

Through our subscription to General OneFile, an electronic database, we have access to all Choice issues, back to October 1999.  The magazine’s popularity in print is matched by it being the most popular of our online magazines.
Its easy to search too.  Visit our databases page, scroll down to General OneFile in the Newspaper section and click on the from home link.  Enter your 7 digit library card number and you are in the database.
To do a search for a report in Choice on the appliance of your choice, type in the appliance type in the Find box and further down the screen in the by publication title, type in Choice. Press enter or click Search and the database will search Choice magazine online for the relevant articles.

Search results come back in date order, so the most recent article will be listed first.

If you just want to browse Choice magazine, on the General Onefile searchpage, above the Find box, click on the Publication Search link. Type in Choice in the Find box and then click the link to Choice.  You can then choose the year and month of the issue you want to browse.
One limitation is the lack of images in the online database. However, if you really need to see the pictures, we have the magazines for the past 2 years and you can access them via a free hold if the issue you want is not available.

So do your homework on your new computer, car or fridge, online at your library and save yourself a lot of time, money and legwork.

One of the most common questions we receive at the library is health related.  The queries range from diet and nutrition, through exercise, pregnancy and childbirth, medications and then specifically on varying diseases or disorders and much more.

We have an excellent health collection, with books as well as DVDs, videos and audio on many of these topics.  However, the lesser known disorders can be difficult to find information on.  When you find out that you or a family member or friend has such a disorder, you want to know more than what you find out from a short consultation at the doctors.

Your local library can help with these sorts of questions.  Besides our lending collection, we have excellent reference books, with very specific focussed information on diseases and medications. We have links to good quality websites on various health topics, as well as professional medical indexes through our website directory page.  We also provide free access to three quality health databases.  All you need is your current library card number to access the amazing content they contain.
Health and Wellness is a full-text database that provides reliable health information aimed at the general public rather than medical practitioners. The index includes hundreds of periodicals, 6 reference books and thousands of pamphlets.

Consumer Health Complete is the single most comprehensive resource for consumer-oriented health content. CHC provides content covering all areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary, holistic, and integrated medicine. This full text database covers topics such as aging, cancer, diabetes, drugs & alcohol, fitness, nutrition & dietetics, men’s & women’s health, and children’s health.

Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. It includes reliable evidence from Cochrane and other systematic reviews, clinical trials, and more. Cochrane reviews bring you the combined results of the world’s best medical research studies, and are recognised as the gold standard in evidence-based health care.

If you still can’t find what you are looking for using these valuable resources, feel free to use our free online enquiry service, IRIS and let us find the information you need.

With the new financial year we have added new databases to the list of content we provide, free to library members.

For those needing health information, we now have Consumer Health Complete alongside our longstanding subscription to Health and Wellness, giving you two sources of medical information.  They include content from encyclopedias and magazines, as well as the more academic and specialist journal content, including current information on treatment options and more.

We have added MasterFile Premier which has a wide range of magazine and journal content as well as a large number of media files, including maps and images.  This generalist database should return matches to almost any search need and includes Australian as well as UK and US content.

Our most exciting new database edition is Price It, which is an antiques and collectbiles pricing guide.  It takes its information from auction houses and online auction sites, to give you an indication of how much your treasured item is worth.  All prices are indication of what the market is doing and are in US Dollars.

Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation subscribes to these databases on your behalf, so there is no charge to access them.  All you need is your library card number.  They can be accessed at the library or at home, so get to it!

We are very excited to announce that our “Virtual Reference Library” is now available for all of our members from home/school/work/anywhere you have access to the internet. It is a collection of quality reference books which are available in an electronic format. In non-tech speak it means that you can get information on knights in the Middle Ages, or on the different types of volcanoes, or the child development theories of Jean Piaget by going to http://www.cclc.vic.gov.au/find/databases.html and then clicking on to the link that says “Gale Virtual Reference Library” under the heading “Encyclopedias and Reference”. If you are at “home/school/work/anywhere you have access to the internet” you click on the words “From Home” and then type in your library card number.

The VRL is very easy to search - you just type in the topic or subject you are looking for in the search box and “hey presto” (it really is like magic) you are given a list of hits that match your search. It is just like Google but with the added advantage of giving you information that you can trust - just like all of the databases that we subscribe to. Once you have found what you are looking for you can print, download or email the article. The information that you find is exactly the same that you would find in the printed copy of the book.

For those CSI addicts amongst you I recommend the “World of Forensic Science” which is available through the VRL. It describes itself as:

“World of Forensic Science is a convenient, comprehensive guide to the scientific processes and the legal, social and ethical issues involved in the forensic sciences. Approximately 600 entries cover the individuals, techniques, and principles of biology, chemistry, law, medicine, physics, computer science, geology, and psychology involved in the multidisciplinary approach of examining crime scenes and evidence to be used in legal proceedings.”

We will be adding more titles to the Virtual Reference Library later in the year so we recommend checking it out on a regular basis.
PS: Whilst you are on the “Databases” page you should also check out some of the other free resources we have available.

I love a good mystery. I have only been a mystery reader for a few years now, so I am still finding my way around the good authors. Fortunately, working in a library means that I have lots of books coming across my path, which means I have access to lots of potential new reads.

But if you aren’t in that situation, how do you find new authors and titles? Library staff are often a great help there, but not everyone reads in the same genre as you do. This is where a new service that Casey-Cardinia Library is offering can help.

Next Reads is an e-newsletter which “includes recently released titles and, depending on the newsletter, may include related (read-alike) titles, additional thematic suggestions, or forthcoming titles.” To gain access to a newsletter, you subscribe with your email address and a password of your choice and opt-in to whichever of the 20 newsletters you like. Once confirmed, each month (or for some, bimonthly) you will receive a newsletter with titles and summaries of books you might like to check out. Click on the catalogue link at the top newsletter and you can check to see if the book is available at our libraries. If it is, take a moment to place a free hold and your next read will soon be available, with only one trip to the library!

This service is free and available to all Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation members. Newsletters cover a wide range of adult fiction genres, as well as biography, travel, business, home and garden, popular culture and young adult, with a children’s list to follow soon. So there is a newsletter there for virtually every reading taste.

To subscribe, go to CCLC’s Next Reads page (or access it on our databases page), click next to the newsletter(s) of your choice, (choose as many as you like) fill in your name, email and create a password and submit. You will then get a confirmation email sent to you - reply to it and soon after, your first newsletter will appear in your inbox.

With our new Unicorn system coming, the process will be even easier, with links to each title embedded in the newsletter. So watch for that feature coming soon.

In the meantime, I have received my first mystery newsletter, so excuse me while I check out some new titles………………