National Library of Australia  - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 72 | December 2004


Newspapers in Three Guises

Do you like reading the daily newspapers but have difficulty managing more than one while eating your porridge or muesli? Well, here’s the solution. Readers can come into the National Library’s reading rooms and not only have a choice of what they read, but also how they read it.

The Library has recently taken out a subscription to Factiva, an online service from Dow Jones & Reuters. There are nearly 9000 sources available, from 118 countries in 22 languages, including over 120 continuously updated newswire services, same-day and archival coverage of major newspapers from around the world, television and radio transcripts, key business and news magazines, company reports and so on. A news junkie’s idea of heaven! This service can be accessed from the Library’s homepage by clicking on Indexes and Databases.

However, if you still prefer the rustle of paper or looking at the advertisements for things you don’t want or can’t afford, the Library still receives papers in hardcopy—those from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne on the day of publication, and others a day or so later. We receive about 450 Australian newspapers from all states and territories, including Broome, Woomera, Huonville, Lightning Ridge, Norfolk Island, Thursday Island and Katherine, in many languages and on special interests, such as sport, farming and religion. The Library is continuing its subscriptions to almost 100 overseas titles in hardcopy. Check the Library’s catalogue for holdings.

But you don’t have to wait for Australia Post to deliver these newspapers to Canberra. The Factiva service, as well as having coverage of newspapers from the world’s major cities and Australian capitals, includes many local Australian papers such as Cairns Post, Gold Coast Bulletin, Centralian Advocate, Herald (Newcastle), Geelong Advertiser, East Torrens Messenger, Kalgoorlie Miner and Tasmanian Country. Factiva offers not only today’s or this week’s news, but an archive going as far back as the 1980s or 1990s for many titles.

Another source for accessing current Australian newspapers is Australian Newspapers Online at: <www.nla.gov.au/npapers>. This list gives access to the websites of Australian newspapers—some are promotional/advertising sites only, but an increasing number of papers also make their news available online. However, not all newspaper publishers have archived earlier issues, and some require a subscription to gain access.

The Library also provides electronic access to a number of newspapers and newspaper indexes through the Indexes and Databases link on the homepage at <www.nla.gov.au>, then click on the heading Reference and Current Affairs for a listing arranged by state or overseas. The listing also indicates if the database is freely accessible on the Internet or networked to the Library’s reading rooms only.

For many readers it is the lure of the past that attracts them to newspapers. All of the Australian papers received today are kept to become the treasures of tomorrow, but the Library has also acquired, and continues to acquire, many back issues of newspapers on microfilm to build up a picture of the past. Papers from the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries are used by researchers to gain a valuable insight into the history of their family or a community or a particular period. We hold over 1150 Australian newspaper titles on microfilm and nearly 1100 overseas titles from America, Britain, Europe and Asia. Each title held has a record in the Library’s catalogue.

If your research needs are for even earlier dates, you can search back to 1785 using 2004 technology. The Times Digital Archive is a digital version of the London newspaper The Times from 1785 to 1985. Each issue has been captured in its entirety with all articles, advertisements and illustrations. Searches can be performed using a simple keyword or an advanced search can be performed specifying a time period, a section of the paper or the selection of photographs only. It is also possible to view the complete issue of a particular date. This service can be accessed from the Library’s homepage by clicking on Indexes and Databases. The Times is available on microfilm and we also receive the hardcopy within a week of its publishing date. Of course it is one of the titles available on Factiva, so the reader has a choice of formats.

If you want to go back even further still, the microfilm series Early English Newspapers includes papers from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. This collection was filmed from the holdings of the Dr Charles Burney collection in the British Library and the John Nichols Collection in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Each title reproduced in this series is listed in the Library’s catalogue.

If your interest is in the Emerald Isle, the Library holds on microfilm the series Ireland: Politics and Society Through the Press, 1760–1922. This collection contains a comprehensive selection of titles covering research areas such as eighteenth century patriots and radicals, the great famine, Fenianism, Home Rule, architecture, economic history, the church and literature.

At present, access to Factiva and The Times Digital Archive is restricted to the computers in the Library’s reading rooms. For onsite use, the microfilm titles are available in the Newspaper/Microform Reading Room where new microfilm readers and printers will be installed early in 2005. The Australian capital city papers are on open (self service) access, and others must be requested by call slip. A number of other titles listed in Indexes and Databases are also available in the reading rooms only.

For readers who are unable to visit the Library in Canberra, the microfilms are also available for loan, and specific articles can be copied (subject to copyright), through the interlibrary loan system. Photocopies or digital photographic images may also be obtained through the Copies Direct service from: <www.nla.gov.au/copiesdirect/index.html>.

The Library has a huge range of newspaper titles available in one or more of three guises—hardcopy (paper), microform or electronic. Access them in the Newspaper/Microform Reading Room or through the website or via interlibrary loans or Copies Direct. Check the information and links on the newspaper website at: <www.nla.gov.au/find/news.html> or the site for family historians at: <www.nla.gov.au/infoserv/family.html>

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