Sutherland Shire Libraries Staff News

The Australian Newspapers (beta), and Papers Past (New Zealand) are now available via Google News Archive:

The Google archive is a sub part of the main Google news page (direct link to archive search from Google news page).

Google intends to deliver newspapers via the Google News Archive only (not the main Google) at present. The Google News Archive consists of three resource types:

1. Newspapers digitised by Google and available via Google newspaper viewer (launched Sept 2008)
2. Digitised/online newspapers from other organisations that are free or cost and results go direct to those sources eg New York Times, Australian Newspapers beta, Papers Past (NZ), Sydney Morning Herald.
3. News from web sources.

The digitised Australian and New Zealand newspapers are the first non American newspaper content in Google News Archive, so this is a landmark event for users.

The easiest way to find the old historical digitised newspapers is to go into 'advance search' and check the 'no price' box, then add your search terms. There is a date filter on the left that lets you find older things since the search seems to default to latest news first even in the archive search. For example search for Sydney Gazette. There is also a timeline option.

If you are interested in viewing the digitised papers from Google in the Google newspaper viewer here are the instructions: (we do not know the extent or titles of the Google newspaper digitisation program).

1. Go to Home Page of Google News Archive
2. Select Advanced search
3. Man on the moon - all words, Check No price
4. In the Results list look for the title of a newspaper followed by - 'Google News Archive' in grey to find those Google have digitised that are available in their viewer. Click the link. The page should open in the viewer.
5. Once an article is found you can cite it by clicking 'link to this article' top right to get a persistent URL. e.g. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8KAFAAAAIBAJ&dq=man%20on%20the%20moon&sjid=9TIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6926%2C4212087

OR

In advanced search put in the source name eg Rome News Tribune or St. Petersburg Times and check no price. Put no keywords in search box.

Jacinta

Australian Bureau of Statistics
http://www.abs.gov.au/

I recently attended the ‘Accessing ABS Information Session’. This session gave a detailed overview of the ABS website. This site is a great source of information on statistics and issues in society. The information is derived from sources such as census data, field surveys and government departments. Some of the most interesting resources include:

• Yearbooks from 1908 onwards: The Yearbooks contain information on topics such as the environment, international relations, the economy, natural hazards and disasters.
  Themes: This page contains links to popular statistics on topics such as alcohol consumption, suicide, obesity, religion and inflation.
• The Google Search Box: the ABS website can be searched if you’re unsure where to find information. We were told that if we remember just one thing from the Seminar, then the Google Search box should be it.
• Population Clock: this gives a population projection. It does not represent an official figure. For an official count, click on the ‘Regional Population Growth Australia’ link further down this page.
• Census Data: Statistics from the census can be viewed via Quickstats, Mapstats and Community profiles. Searches can be made of locations, states, cities, maps and even addresses. I typed in my home address and it came up with all statistics applicable to that area.
• International statistics: This contains links to other statistical agencies and would be useful in providing comparative data.

Overall, I think this is a good resource to use for school assignments – Health, Community and Family Studies, Economics etc. I used it recently for example, to find out the population statistics for Cronulla in the last Census.

Has anyone else used this website to answer a reference query?
Is there anything on the website that you have found helpful/confusing/completely useless?

Yes, it has happened. The Ref Rap is embracing the world of Web 2.0 and going online. This means that rather than getting a bi-monthly print copy, you’ll get articles via the staff blog. At this stage I’m hoping to add articles more frequently (maybe once a week) rather than saving them all up and bombarding the blog with them. Now I know not everyone enjoys blogging. I know at some branches it can be difficult to read articles online. I know that the print copy looked great and was much easier to read in the staff rooms.

However...

• If the Ref Rap goes online you’ll be able to follow any links included in articles
• You’ll be able to comment on articles (conditions apply*, see below)
• You’ll become more familiar with the growing world of web 2.0
• You’ll be doing your bit for the environment – think of all the trees you’ll save

The main objective of putting the Ref Rap online is to make it more of a knowledge sharing tool. If you have something to say about an article (good or bad) - please comment. If you find a resource that was really useful or terrible – please comment. If you just want to share your feelings – please comment.

*I should add that you can’t actually comment from the staff PCs until after 6pm, but who has time to blog during the busy day anyway?

My suggestion is to read the staff news blog on shift nights... unless you have a particular passion for shelf tidying and would much rather be doing that instead. And for those that have staff PCs far away from the desk, did you know that you can access the Internet from the desk PCs?

I realise some will like this (and maybe even love it) while others will hate it. All I ask is that you give it a chance – and if you hate it that much you’re more than welcome to comment on it!

P.S. If you do miss getting the Ref Rap in print, then you could always print out the blog posts.

Scenario
Customer in a hurry, prefers books put aside for them as they dash through on way home from work.
3 books on ADD showing available at Sutherland Library, reserved online.
Arrives to collect books but informed they are not yet available. All three are showing"in transit".
Goes home and looks up catalogue to see that all three are still showing available at Sutherland.
Rings library and arranges for the Sutherland books to be put aside while they drive back to the library.
The reserves had all been filled by branches. Three books will now be transported by van to Sutherland, checked in, and sent back by van to the owning branches, where they will be checked in and reshelved.
Waste of staff time, unneccessary carting of goods by drivers, waste of customer's time, how can we improve this service?