Searchlight

Learn fast and win a prize

2009-04-08T10:03:00.000+10:00

Would you like to learn about computers and the internet, but don’t have the time or money to attend a formal training course? Would you like to be a powerful PowerPoint user? What about Word? Do you need some excellence with Excel? Would you like to win a movie ticket! Try Learningfast.

This online training service is available through the CityLibraries website. Just click on “Online Databases” and then choose “Learningfast” from the list of Business / News databases. Registration is easy (and free), just use your CityLibraries Townsville card membership number for the username, and the word ‘thuringowa’ for the password. You will also need to enter your name, address and phone number if you wish to be eligible for the prize draw.

Learningfast has two parts. The first part, ICT Skills Benchmark, consists of a series of self-paced tutorials. You can learn all about the basics of computers, through to advanced Excel and Word functions.
Of particular interest to Searchlight readers is the “Searching the Internet Effectively” module. It contains tutorials on Search Engines, Subject Directories, Meta Search Engines, Search Strategies, and even information about mailing lists, newsgroups and web forums.

Taking the 'pre-tests' of a module will help you to decide if you need to complete it, or move straight on to more advanced topics. Simply work through the multiple choice quizzes as necessary. “Learning Activities” displays training tutorials and guides you to update your required computer skills based on pre-test results. Each module will give you an indicative time for an average user to complete, so you know how much time to set aside. Tutorials are also printable for reference offline and for you to make notes.

To check your progress through the whole package at any time, click on “My Results Summary” on the menu. Your individual report displays date and time accessed, all activities attempted and % score for the last attempt. You can also print out the report.

Need any more reasons to check out Learningfast? The first ten people to register and complete at least one tutorial on Learningfast will receive a free movie pass to Birch Carroll & Coyle cinemas. There will be runner up prizes as well, so log on and start learning!

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:
CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

LibraryThing: a social space for bookworms

2009-04-03T07:25:00.001+10:00

Do you like to keep track of the books you own or have read? LibraryThing is a social site that lets you catalogue your personal collections, keep reading lists and meet others who have similar tastes.

Sign up for a free account and register up to 200 books. Beyond this limit, you can pay for a subscription. Starting an account is as easy as choosing a username and password. To share details of your collections while remaining anonymous, select a username that isn’t your real name.

It’s easy to enter a book that you have read or found interesting using the ‘Add books’ feature. Just enter a title or author or ISBN to bring up a list of possible matches in Amazon or Library of Congress. Clicking on a title in the list instantly adds it to your library with an image of the cover and all available information including title, author, ISBN, publisher, date and so on. You can also add your own ratings, comments and tags as on Del.icio.us and Flickr.

You can make your collections private, but most people choose to make theirs public as they enjoy the social aspects of the site. There are many social networking features worth exploring.

This site is useful if you often choose books on the recommendation of others.
One way is to go to ‘your library’ which gives you access to your collection. Here you can select the people icon for a book that you have read to get recommendations and find out what other members have to say in reviews, ratings and discussion list conversations. There are also links to Wikipedia.

The ‘Groups’ area allows you to join over 1500 discussion lists, communities where members can discuss books akin to a book club. Take a look at the Green Dragon community for Tolkien, the largest and most active community.

Additionally, you can search the entire database, check out other member libraries, arrange your library by Dewey and place books on your blog.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Searching for The Origin

2009-03-24T12:55:00.001+10:00

Searching for The Origin

Charles Darwin has received quite a bit of publicity this year. If he was alive he would be blowing out 200 candles on his birthday cake! To mark this anniversary, plus the 150th anniversary of his work The Origin of the Species, there has been a range of publications, conferences and exhibitions marking his life and work in the field of evolutionary biology.

A lot of quality information about Darwin and his work can be found in the range of online databases offered by CityLibraries Townsville. All of these databases are free to use, you just need a library card (also free) to login from home. Visit the online databases page and check out the following resources.

An online database is a collection of information about a particular topic which is written, selected and organised by experts and professionals in a particular field. Some databases are collections of articles (usually full-text) from newspapers, magazines and other publications

The Australia / New Zealand Reference Centre has the full text of newspaper and magazines from around Australia and the world. Searching for Charles Darwin in this database will provide recent articles about his anniversary and reports of various events and exhibitions. Articles can be saved and emailed to your personal email address.

Biography Resource Centre contains over 415,000 biographies of prominent people from around the world, throughout history and across all subject areas. There are several articles on Charles Darwin from various publications. The articles range from short overviews to long detailed essays.

If you have a student in the family studying biology, point them towards the Science Resource Centre database. It has a wealth of articles on evolutionary biology, from the work of Darwin to recent research.

The whole idea of evolution versus creation can cause significant debate, so to get both sides of each story, head to the Opposing Viewpoints Resource centre. This database brings together all the information that's needed to fully understand an issue: pro and con viewpoint articles, reference articles that provide context, full-text magazines, academic journals, and newspapers, primary source documents, government and organizational statistics.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Search for a different point of view

2009-02-25T08:36:00.001+10:00

Hot topics such as climate change can receive significant attention from the media. Such controversial issues do periodically gain coverage and debate in the mass media, however they are also frequently set as debating topics or SOSE assignments for high school students. Trying to find information about disputed issues can be difficult on the internet. Entering the subject in a search engine can bring up a range of sites which vary from sensible and authoritative to extremist and misleading.

One way to avoid dealing with these types of sites is to use the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Centre (OVRC) which is available through the CityLibraries Townsville website. You will need your library card to login. Don’t forget that it is free to join CityLibraries Townsville to get a library card.

OVRC covers "social issues, such as gun control, genetic engineering, censorship, endangered species and terrorism. It brings together viewpoint articles, contextual topic overviews, government and organisational statistics, biographies of social activists, court cases, profiles of government agencies and special interest groups, newspaper and magazines articles, as well as links to more than 1,400 reviewed and subject-indexed web sites".

Before using OVRC it is advisable to check the Toolbox and Help sections for advice on how to best approach the material on offer. For example, they suggest that users should consider the author's credentials and affiliations and identify the author's supporting material.

Searching of OVRC is easy as many topical issues are listed on the home page in alphabetical order or you can enter a direct search. Take advantage of the advanced search page. Documents returned from the search are divided into categories according to their type such as Magazines & Newspapers or Web Sites.

OVRC will provide you with good coverage and recent articles (newspapers and periodicals updated daily) of ethical issues affecting the world, particularly America. To find more information relevant to the Australian debate another database on offer through the library website is the Australian and New Zealand Reference Centre.

Need some help searching the Web? Contact your local public library:
Thuringowa Library Services 4773 8601 infodesk@thuringowa.qld.gov.au
Citi Libraries Aitkenvale 4727 8312
Citi Libraries Flinders Mall 4727 9665

Easy homework help online

2009-02-19T15:21:00.000+10:00

School is well and truly back and the homework is coming thick and fast. Some parents struggle to help their children with homework, either because of work and other commitments, or simply because “they don’t teach maths like I learnt it back in my school days!”.

Help is at hand. YourTutor is a free online classroom where students can connect to qualified tutors for one-one-one help with homework, assignments, exam preparation and study questions. All you need to access this free service is a library card from any public library in Queensland.

English, Maths and Science subjects are included and the service is available 4pm-8pm, Monday to Friday from either library or home computers. Help is immediate, professional and secure and it’s free to library members. Students in Years 4-12, simply log on to the YourTutor website, and follow the links to log on using their local library card number.

Tutors are certified teachers, professional tutors, post graduates and advanced undergraduates from Australian universities. All tutors have been security screened are specially trained to work with young people online. Tutors can review specific homework and assignment questions with students on line, using features like controlled chat, an interactive white board and shared web browsing.

Students can now communicate with tutors the way they love to learn – via the internet- which makes the experience enjoyable as well as educational.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Wet Weather

2009-02-10T15:10:00.002+10:00

The weather is always a popular topic of conversation, even more so at this time of the year with extended periods of rain and the threat of tropical cyclones. There are a host of useful websites covering this topic, so here are some search tips for finding them.

When searching for information, one of the best questions to ask yourself is “Who cares?”. Who would care enough about that information to collect, organise and publish it? Who would be the best person or organisation to consult for an answer?

In this case the Australian Bureau of Meteorology is an obvious answer. Their website holds a wealth of information about current conditions, cyclone and flood warnings, satellite images, forecasts and more. Townsville residents should check out the updated radar images from the Mount Stuart station and the local rainfall maps.

Another search strategy when using internet search engines, is to type the answer you hope to find, rather than the question you are asking. For example, if you’re travelling to another place and want to know the weather forecast, instead of typing “what is the weather in Christchurch?”, try typing “the weather in Christchurch is”. This strategy takes advantage of the fact that search engines index the words on a page, and most information is written as answers, rather than questions. This doesn’t always provide better results, but it should certainly make you aware of different websites that may not appear in your first search.

A third search strategy to consider is to enter your search words into a number of different search engines, as the results that each one provides can be very different. Try typing “Townsville weather” into four different search engines - Google, Yahoo!, Ask and MSN Search – and compare the results. You might find out what the weather is like in Townsville in North Carolina!

To finish up on something a little bit different, check out 50,000 years of weather expertise at the Indigenous Weather Knowledge site by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

The largest library in the world – Library of Congress

2009-02-06T15:43:00.001+10:00

Have you been searching for a good website to start researching a topic or to increase your general knowledge? Where better to start than the largest library in the world - the United States Library of Congress.

"The Library's mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations." For those of you fortunate enough to visit Washington D.C. in the future, go take a look around the actual library and be amazed. Luckily for the rest of us in Oz, the Library of Congress website offers abundant opportunities to exploit the
rich resources and information expertise held within the Library of Congress. It is worthwhile to read the section “About the Library” on the home page to gain an idea of the breadth and depth of knowledge the Library is charged with collecting and organizing.

The huge wealth of online resources is probably best encapsulated in the Global Gateway. This area offers a wealth of knowledge and opportunity to explore - from Portals to the World, International exhibitions, and access to the Library's 21 reading rooms which are specialised areas of expertise organised by international regions and subject. You can either try a direct search in the search box or browse through these resources.

A useful search option is to browse through the reading rooms of your
interest by clicking on “Research Centers” from the home page. Most of the reading rooms offer access to expert guides to Internet resources and digital projects. For example, if you were looking to keep up with the 2008 United States election, take a virtual look around the Newspaper & Current Periodical research center.

Other online experiences offered are the Wise Guide - a monthly
magazine highlighting different aspects of the Library; and Exhibitions
providing access to a large number of enduring online exhibitions.

The Library of Congress website is recommended as an important starting point for research on worldwide topics - especially those with an American historical or cultural aspect. The website should also be a consideration for people thinking of travelling to America or the rest of the world as a good general guide to international Internet resources

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Maternity Mayhem!

2008-12-11T12:48:00.000+10:00

In light of Townsville’s recent baby boom there is no doubt in my mind that I am not the only expectant mother confused by the overwhelming wealth of web information concerning every aspect of impending parenthood. From nutrition to nappies, caffeine to cravings, exercise to epidurals, caesarean section vs. natural birth, the list truly is never ending.

To add to this perplexing pregnancy plethora, when it comes to babies, it seems everyone has an opinion and wants to ‘weigh-in.’ With a paediatrician brother, midwife mother-in-law, and a whole tribe of nurses in the family, I truly have heard every bit of advice under the rainbow, and here-in lies the problem: as a parent-to-be, how does one sort the baby information designed to keep mum and baby happy, from the information that could, quite frankly, fill your baby’s nappy?

For better or for worse, the internet is a highly accessible tool and anyone with the know-how can publish an internet site, regardless of qualification or agenda. This unregulated nature of the internet presents a unique set of challenges when trying to determine the reliability of information retrieved. As you might do when purchasing a new product in the supermarket, when researching any topic, it is always important to ‘read the label.’ When researching on the internet, some examples of questions you should ask are: Does the site have a reputable author? Is it up-to-date? Is there an obvious bias? Is the site trying to sell you something? Can the information be verified on other similar sites? Does the page contain links to other reliable sites?

To get you started, CityLibraries provides a number of reliable health related online databases through the CityLibraries website (http://tinyurl.com/66awf2): Medline Plus, HealthInsite, Health and Wellness Resource Centre and Credo Reference.
The Townsville General Hospital also provides a good resource at http://tinyurl.com/6czt2k (click on ‘Having a baby’ in the left hand navigation bar). Bellybelly at http://www.bellybelly.com.au
is also a great place to start for all things maternity and be sure to read their ‘about us’ and ‘disclaimer’ links before proceeding.

Of course, before making any medical decisions, consult your qualified healthcare provider.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:
CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Finding stuff you like

2008-12-05T16:40:00.001+10:00

Have you been searching for some new music to listen to, a new author to read, or a new travel destination to visit? By using some simple search techniques in an internet search tool, you can mine the wisdom and opinion of millions of internet users to find things similar to what you like.

Firstly we need to explore phrase searching. Google and most other search engines enable you to search for phrases by enclosing your search words in inverted commas. Typing “Sydney ferry timetables” will force Google to search for those three words as they appear in the phrase, not as separate words within a webpage. This can dramatically increase the accuracy of your search results.

By using this technique and a few different search phrases, you can make new discoveries based on other people’s opinions. If you are searching for music similar to your favourite band (we’ll use the band Coldplay as an example), use a phrase like “reminds me of Copldplay”, or “similar to Coldplay”, or “sounds like Coldplay”. In the results you should find websites and blogs where people are discussing a band or artist that they think sounds like your favourite band.

To find reviews that are more opinionated, try using a phrase like “better than”, for example “better than Melbourne”.

Phrase searching can also be useful for finding answers to questions. Simply imagine how the answer you are looking for would be written, then search for that phrase. For example, if you want to find the longest river in the world, your search phrase would be “the longest river in the world is”.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Roll your own

2008-11-24T14:48:00.000+10:00

Sometimes when searching the web, the results list of your search engine is cluttered with websites that aren’t relevant. For example, if you are searching for historical information about your suburb, you may find the results filled with real estate sites mentioning houses for sale in your area.

One way to overcome this in Google is to add a minus sign in front of words you want to exclude from your search. For example, searching for “Kirwan –real –estate” should help weed out unwanted websites.

Another way to overcome this is to build your own search engine, and include only the sites you want to search. Rollyo is just one of many free services that you can use to create a personalised search engine.

Click the ‘Create Searchroll’ link on the Rollyo homepage and then fill in the form. You can add up to 25 web addresses that you would like to search. Once completed, your personal search tool can be used in a number of ways. All of your search rolls are saved to a dashboard, so you can create a number of different ones depending on your hobbies, job or study.

If you have your own blog or website, you can add your new search tool to your site. Rollyo can provide the HTML code which you can paste on your website, which will produce a search box just like a search engine.

Rollyo already has quite a few search rolls prepared which you are free to use. These include topics like golf, cars, news and computer games.

Another similar service to try is the Google Custom Search Engine.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Information you can trust

2008-11-24T14:47:00.000+10:00

The Librarians’ Internet Index (www.lii.org) is a subject directory where the web sites have been chosen and reviewed by librarians. The slogan of LII says it all – Websites you can trust.

LII is organised into categories for easy browsing such as business, computers, sports, and environment or you can enter a search term to search LII only. By entering a search term or browsing a category you are taken to a list of sites which have been described by an information specialist. Beneath each description is a list of subject terms used to catalogue the site - by clicking on these you are taken to all the sites with that subject in their description - much like browsing on the shelves in a library.

A very useful feature on the LII homepage is the Featured Collection section which provides many resources on topical current affairs such as the 2008 US Presidential Election. The LII homepage also shows new sites that have been added or you can opt for a free subscription to receive a weekly email newsletter or RSS feed showing new resources added to LII.

LII is an excellent resource for reliable information for everyone. School or university students should find it useful for assignments. It is a great site to have in your Favourites but bear in mind that it is an American source and not many Australian sites are included. Of course, this can be an advantage if you are researching a topic such as the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. If you get no results from your search, as LII itself explains, "lii.org has records for about 10,000 of the hundreds of millions of available websites … it's possible the resource you are looking for isn't described."

LII provides a More Search Tools section for recommended search engines and news engines where you may have more luck.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

CityLibrary Aitkenvale 4727 8312
CityLibrary Flinders Mall 4727 9665
CityLibrary Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

National Library card unlocks wealth of online resources

2008-11-04T15:33:00.000+10:00

We all know that there’s more information available on the internet than you could ever sensibly need in one lifetime, but did you know that there is a genuine treasure-chest of quality information locked away to select users? Fortunately, all you need to unlock these vaults is a library card, which is usually free.

Now most people will be familiar with visiting their local public library to borrow materials, and regular Searchlight readers will also know about the range of online services they can use their library card for. But did you know that you can now become an online member and use the services of one of Australia’s most important libraries? The National Library of Australia, situated in Canberra, has a role in collecting and making available information for all Australians. Recently they have taken an impressive leap forward by allowing people around Australia to register for a library card, and then use that card to unlock dozens of websites where the quality information is stored.

Head to www.nla.gov.au/app/eresources and fill out the online application form. All you need is a residential address in Australia, so they can post the card to you. It only took four days for a card to be delivered to North Queensland – and remember it’s all free!

Some of the treasures waiting to be unlocked cover business directories, art, history, music, book reviews, bioethics, economic data and much more. Mixed in with these databases are a selection of the very best free websites available, so if you can’t wait to get your library card, you may still find something useful from the free site.

Your National Library of Australia card will be good for two years, and the eResources are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Just the thing for last minute business reports or homework research.

Don’t forget that the State Library of Queensland also has an e-Services Card. Visit www.slq.qld.gov.au/services/ecard and complete the form. Once again a card will be sent in the mail and you can then unlock a wealth of online databases and e-books from the State Library website.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local CityLibrary branch:

Citi Library Aitkenvale 4727 8312
Citi Library Flinders Mall 4727 9665
Citi Library Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Searching for Internet gems

2008-10-29T15:50:00.000+10:00

An online subject directory is a database of websites that have been collected and organised by people. Imagine a bookshop where the books are shelved according to their subject. Each subject - like sport - is broken down and organised into smaller more specific subjects - like cricket or swimming. A subject directory does the same thing with websites, and this makes them very useful for browsing. The great strength of subject directories is that people, not computers, choose and evaluate the websites in the directory. The main disadvantage of a Directory is their relatively small size. You may have several thousand websites to search through, rather than the tens of millions that a search engine can offer.

Infomine (http://infomine.ucr.edu) is such a directory. Don your hard-hats for an underground tour of this gem of a website.

Infomine is a collection of web resources mostly collected and organised by librarians, the original information experts. Although Infomine is aimed at an academic audience, it contains resources of use and interest to most people. Secondary students will find it great for homework help! Web resources listed in Infomine have a short description or review about the content of online resources. This alone saves valuable minutes while searching, as you don’t have to check every resource to see if it’s useful or not.

One the greatest strengths of Infomine, after its contents, is the many ways you can search through those contents. Try browsing through the list of broad topics, such as Biological, Agricultural and Medical Sciences, Business and Economics, Government Info, Visual and Performing Arts and more. You can also enter your search words into a search box, and then manipulate and refine the results using the “Modify Search” button.

Visit the “Advanced Search” page for more search options, including the ability to browse by Author and Title. This is particularly useful considering Infomine has a good collection of electronic journals, textbooks and conference proceedings.

Finally, make sure you check out the “Search Tips” page, available from the homepage. It’s very clear and easy to use. Simple but effective tips include using a truncation at the end of a search word. For example, entering “industr*” with a star at the end, the will retrieve results with the words industry, industries, industrial and industrialisation.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local Citi library branch:

Citi Library Aitkenvale 4727 8312
Citi Library Flinders Mall 4727 9665
Citi Library Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Old Skool Google

2008-10-21T08:12:00.000+10:00

Sometimes it's scary to look through a photo album and realise that you really did wear some of those weird fashions and hairstyles not-so-long-ago!

It can be just as interesting looking back through a "photo album" of old web pages.

Recently Google celebrated its tenth birthday by revealing the 2001 version of the Google search engine (www.google.com/search2001.html) –be quick to check it out as the site won’t be up for long. Technical issues prevented them from making the 1998 version available, but it’s still amazing to see how far the web has come in the last seven years. Click on a link in the results page and you’ll be taken to the current live version of that page, if it still exists. Look closely at the results and you’ll see a link to “View old version on the Internet Archive”.

The Internet Archive (www.archive.org) is a great way of looking at various web page fashions over the relatively brief history of the internet. From the Internet Archive homepage, type an internet address into the Wayback Machine search box and click the "Take me Back" button to search. If that web site has been archived, you will be presented with a list of dates when the site was "captured" for archiving. Click on a date to see that webpage as it looked in the late 1990's. Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) from 1996 certainly looks different to today's version. The archive isn't complete, and there are plenty of broken links and missing graphics, but it's a fun site to visit.

The Internet Archive also has a serious role preserving the wealth of social, intellectual and cultural information that appears and disappears all too quickly on the Internet. This function makes it a great search tool for web-based information that is several years old. For example, an ABC News page (www.abc.net.au) archived in August 1997, has breaking news stories of the Thredbo landslide disaster.

As well as regular web pages, the Wayback Machine has also archived audio and video files and it has a pretty good Advanced Search feature which is worth a look. Have fun searching the early days of the web.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local Citi library branch:

Citi Library Aitkenvale 4727 8312
Citi Library Flinders Mall 4727 9665
Citi Library Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

What will I read now?

2008-10-17T16:39:00.000+10:00

It’s always satisfying to get to the end of a series of books by your favourite author. The comfort of a familiar writing style, subject matter and engaging characters all combine to make reading a pleasurable experience, but the downside is always ‘what am I going to read now?’

Citi Libraries’ online databases include a resource called “What do I read next?” The database is accessed through the library’s online catalogue (http://catalogue.townsville.qld.gov.au/spydus.html) by clicking on the link for ‘online databases’.

Do a search by author name to find a list of books by an author you like. Click on one from the list and plot details, character lists, subjects, reader age range and even the time period of the book appear. Searching is also possible by genre and story type.

Perhaps you really enjoyed a particular book and would like to find something similar, but by a different author. You can do a search for similar books by clicking on the ‘Help Me Find a Book’ link. Simply enter the name of the book you enjoyed and then click on the link that comes up.

Try entering the book title ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. You can then choose from a range of options on subjects within the book that you are interested in, as well as settings, time periods and major characters. Take care to spell the title correctly though, as it will return a ‘sorry - no matches’ message if there are any mistakes.

Additionally, you can select whether you want to find books for adults, young adults, children or fiction or non-fiction to narrow down the results.

Another useful feature is the ability to search for award-winning books. The prize-winning lists are extensive, with everything from the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards to Pulitzer Prize winners. Type in Miles Franklin Awards and every book awarded this prize since it was first presented in 1957 comes up. Have a browse and see what takes your interest!

Need help searching the web? Contact your local Citi library branch:

Citi Library Aitkenvale 4727 8312
Citi Library Flinders Mall 4727 9665
Citi Library Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Finding information on children’s health issues

2008-09-15T15:51:00.000+10:00

Parents are often faced with the issue of how to best care for a sick child. After other avenues of help, such as medical professionals, have been explored, people sometimes turn to the internet for health information.

The most important thing to remember when searching for health related information on the internet is that you need to stay alert to the origins of what you find. When looking for authoritative health information it is a good idea to restrict your search initially to government sites. You can do this in Google from the “Advanced Search” page by entering .gov in the domain field. To restrict your search to Australian government websites simply use .gov.au

A search using the exact phrase “information for parents” and restricted to Australian government sites leads to a varied list of relevant topics relating to child health in the broadest sense, from communicable diseases to child protection orders. An alternative search which adds the search words “child” and “health” results in a more focused result.

One Australian government health site stands apart from the rest because of its features and searching capabilities. HealthInsite is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. It acts as a gateway to other websites which contain authoritative information on a broad range of contemporary health issues. Websites go through a stringent quality assessment process which involves a number of groups of professional people.
From the left hand navigation bar on the homepage, click on ‘A to Z Health Topics’ to gain access to a substantial listing of health topics arranged in alphabetical order. Go to the ‘Child Health’ section and you’ll be able to choose from a list of specialised subjects ranging from Dental health for children to Child Safety to an A-Z listing of Childhood conditions.
Don’t miss the ‘Life Stages’ link also in the left hand navigation bar which leads to a nifty visual timeline of health events related to different stages in our lives, including birth, childhood and adolescence.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local Citi library branch:

Citi Library Aitkenvale 4727 8312
Citi Library Flinders Mall 4727 9665
Citi Library Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Citi Libraries online

2008-09-10T10:50:00.000+10:00

If you are reading this column because you have the internet at home, then you might like to know about library services that you can use on your home internet. Many services are available to library members online. We love it when you visit us at the library but we know that sometimes it is quicker to do some things from home.

From the Citilibraries homepage (http://tinyurl.com/5vgktp), click ‘online catalogue search’ to find the library catalogue, which contains a listing of all items (books, DVDs, magazines etc) held by the three branches, Aitkenvale, Flinders Mall and Thuringowa. The mobile Neighbourhood and home services are also listed in this catalogue. You may have children who would prefer to use the Kids’ catalogue, which has easy-to-use navigation menus and contains only materials from the children’s sections of the library.

If you are not a member already, you can apply for membership online – just click the 'join online' option on the library catalogue page (http://tinyurl.com/5zu64v). After completing your online registration you will receive an online membership number. Current members will find their membership number on the back of their library card. Membership is free and available to all Townsville residents.

From the catalogue you can login to view your current details and place reserves and requests on items you wish to borrow. If you don’t find what you are looking for, here you may wish to place a request with us to obtain the item for you by purchase or interlibrary loan. You will find the online form on the catalogue page under Services.

Library membership will allow you access to online databases – look for the link on the left-hand menu on the online catalogue. Some of these are: Encyclopaedia Britannica, World Book Encyclopedia, Access Science, Newsbank and Health and Wellness Resource Centre. For young people there is also Your Tutor, a free online tutoring service and resources such as Worldbook for Kids, Ziptales and Tumblebooks. Have a look, you may be surprised!

Need help searching the web? Contact your local Citi library branch:

Citi Library Aitkenvale 4727 8312
Citi Library Flinders Mall 4727 9665
Citi Library Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Ungoogling Kids

2008-09-02T09:52:00.000+10:00

Have you searched the internet for hours to help a child with a school project and been presented with thousands of possible results by Google but still ‘couldn’t find anything on the ‘net?’ Citi Libraries could be the answer you’ve been waiting for.

Today, public libraries offer many enhanced services and so do their online catalogues. New technology means that in addition to identifying what books are in the library, online catalogues can also help to find excellent websites and display them with just a click or two. Think of the last topic your child needed help with and go to the CitiLibraries online catalogue at (http://catalogue.townsville.qld.gov.au/spydus.html)

Select an Advanced Search and type your project topic in the ‘Anywhere field – e.g. Antarctica. A little down the page, you’ll see a ‘Collections’ window. Scroll through that menu and click on “web links” then OK. When the results load, all the titles will show [website] beside it. Clicking on the title will load a page which briefly describes the contents of the website. If you think it’s relevant, simply select the website address (under the blue Electronic Access bar) and the website loads before your eyes.

Why can this be better than Google? The websites you’ll find in your CitiLibraries catalogue have been chosen by teachers and librarians especially for school students. In other words, the work of deciding whether a website contains accurate, relevant and up-to-date information has been done for you! A quick glance at the site will let you know if it is for primary or secondary school students.

Next time your child needs to research a project, ungoogle them and take them to the library … at home. Start your project research with the CitiLibraries online catalogue.

Need help searching the web? Contact your local Citi Library branch:

Citi Library Aitkenvale 4727 8312
Citi Library Flinders Mall 4727 9665
Citi Library Thuringowa 4773 8601 or infodesk@townsville.qld.gov.au

Anzac story kept alive on the net

2006-04-24T11:06:00.000+10:00

The word 'Anzac' is instantly recognisable throughout Australia and New Zealand and is even protected by Commonwealth Law under the “Protection of Word ‘Anzac’ Regulations”. It is a part of Aussie thought, language and life and is integral to many family histories and the country’s wartime heritage. Tomorrow is Anzac Day, a day to remember and acknowledge the ANZAC troops.

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs has a number of commemorative websites for World War I. The Visit Gallipoli site (www.anzacsite.gov.au) is a special ANZAC site dedicated to those who served at Gallipoli. You can explore the ‘Landing’ and ‘Research’ sections for an overview of the campaign and war, nurses stories, diary entries, reports from war correspondents, photograph galleries and even an online book titled ‘A duty clear before us’. The Highlights section contains objects of interest such as watercolours and drawings.

Are you planning to make the pilgrimage to Gallipoli? See the sights in the ‘Visiting’ section of the Visit Gallipoli site with interactive media about Gallipoli today from the Commemorative Anzac Site at North Beach, war grave sites and the Anzac Walk. You can also download the guided audio tours on your MP3 player and take them with you.

If you have war memorabilia within the family, the Department of Veteran Affairs has a free online publication ‘Caring for your wartime memorabilia’ at www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat/2001/memorabilia/index.htm Learn how to care for and look after medals, wartime diaries, letters, postcards, film and tapes.

The Australian War Memorial site is another good place to visit. Check the ‘First Wold War Nominal Roll’ database and ‘First World War Unit Embarkation Roll’ database at www.awm.gov.au/research/infosheets/served_ww1.asp to discover whether any family members served overseas during the Great War.

There are also several great image resources on the ANZACS, Anzac Day services and memorials. Two noteworthy collections are ‘Picture Queensland’ (www.pictureqld.slq.qld.gov.au) and ‘Picture Australia’ (www.pictureaustralia.org). Simply type in ‘anzac’ in the search box of each site. The digitised images that appear belong to photographic collections at the State Library of Queensland, National Library of Australia and numerous institutions throughout Australia such as public libraries, universities, museums and galleries.

Anzac Day

2005-04-26T12:11:00.000+10:00

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

Centenary milestone for Searchlight

2005-04-26T12:10:00.000+10:00

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

Academic journals may hold answers

2005-04-15T08:52:00.000+10:00

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

Factmonster: both fun and factual!

2005-04-15T08:50:00.000+10:00

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

S: Email post test

2005-04-08T11:40:00.000+10:00

B: Email post test

'Face-to-face' help on careers

2005-03-31T11:12:00.000+10:00

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