National Year of Reading 2012

Engage, discover, learn from and enjoy books! It’s count down to the National Year of Reading 2012 and the State library is proud to be one of the partners in this exciting initiative. “Australian libraries and library associations have got together to turn 2012 into the National Year of Reading, linking together all the great things that are already happening around books, reading and literacy, and giving them an extra boost, with inspirational programs and events taking place across the country.”

Do you have a favourite book you’d like to tell us about? 

Has a book ever changed your life?

What good books have you read lately that you think others would enjoy?

Alec Choate 1915 – 2010

 We were saddened this week to read of the death of West Australian poet Alec Choate.

Alec Choate at the Premier's Book Awards dinner on 26 February, 1998. Alec Choate was the winner of the Poetry category in the 1997 awards.

Alec Choate was born in England in 1915 and migrated to Western Australia in 1922.  He was educated at Gwelup Primary School and Hale School.  He served in the AIF in the Middle East and the Pacific in the Second World War.  After the war he worked as a surveyor with the Public Works Department.

He published seven collections of poetry and edited Summerland: A Western Australian Sesquicentenary Anthology of Poetry and Prose (1979).  He won numerous awards including the 1997 Premier’s Book Award for Poetry for his collected war poems, The Wheels of Hama.

You can find more about or by Alec Choate in the collections of the State Library.

You can read more about Alec Choate’s life in:

• UWA University News
• The West Australian Obituaries, Monday 9th August (p.39).  (also available in the library in the West Australian Archive Digital Editions)
• AustLit database (brief information only, full subscription database available in the library)

Wanted! 2010 election campaign material!

Are you being bombarded with campaign material for the upcoming federal election?  Most of us will quickly send this material to our recycling bins, but this ephemeral material is also the stuff of history. 

 The State Library is endeavouring to collect as much Western Australian – 2010 Federal Election ephemera materials as possible for its WA Heritage Collection.   

Polling Booths 1940

 

So, if you have received candidate or party leaflets/flyers, letters, campaign materials, how-to-vote cards, posters, etc for your local candidates or electorate– don’t throw them out— we would love to receive them. 

 Items can be forwarded to:- 

Collection Development Team

 State Library of Western Australia

25 Francis Street  

PERTH WA 6000

(one copy only of each item please!) 

And if you’ve got extra copies you can always send them to the National Library.

More than just Google – free workshops at the State Library

SEaK – Search Engage and Know
Do you feel lost on the information highway?
Don’t know where to start looking for information?
Feel intimidated by the library or the internet?

The State Library has a range of free, practical hands-on workshops where you can improve your research skills and get internet search tips and tricks. All sessions are designed to give you a head start in uncovering the wealth of information available in the Library’s collections and online.

For full details visit the State Library website.

Four new databases available at the State Library

Hooray, we have four new databases available for your delectation! 

1. Literature Resource Center : Information on authors and their works in all genres and disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world using the world’s most current, comprehensive, and reliable online literature resource.
2. Biography Resource Center : An authoritative resource for biographies on notable figures in literature, science, history, government, business, art, religion, entertainment and sports
3. Science Resource Center : Millions of full-text articles on hundreds of topics from over 200 magazines and academic journals along with thousands of topic overviews, experiments, biographies, pictures, illustrations and links to quality web sites.
4. Health and Wellness Resource Center : Full-text authoritative information from journals and reference books covering health, fitness and nutrition.  (This database is also available as a Database from Home)

Click on the title links to go to the catalogue record with additional information for each resource.  To access the databases you will need to visit us at the State Library  as access is limited to those searching within the State Library building (except for the Health and Wellness Resource Center).   To book a PC you will  need to register for a free mylibrary card.  You can search for the databases in our catalogue or you can navigate to them from the Electronic Resources section of our website!

May Discard Book Sale

The SLWA Shop is having a massive May Discard Book Sale on Wednesday 26th Thursday 27^th Friday 28^th and Saturday 29^th May beginning each day at 10am and closing at 4pm. The sale will be held near the SLWA Shop, inside the SLWA main entrance on the ground floor. Prices range from 50 cents for children’s books, $1.50 for large print, $2 for fiction, $3.50 for non fiction, and some higher prices for ‘special’ books. New stock will be brought out each day.

“The West Australian” digital archive now available at for searching in the State Library

Newspaper House, home of The West Australian, 1957

Interested in searching through back issues of The West Australian?   The West Australian Archive Digital Editions is now available for searching in the State Library.  This database covers all issues of the newspaper from July 2004 until yesterday.  It contains the same content, editorial and photographic material including the classifieds for birth, death and marriage notices, you’ll find in the printed version with the exception of The West Magazine and commercial inserts which are not included.  It can be searched using keywords and articles can be printed.

This database is available on computers within the State Library – you will need to register with the library to access and book library computers.

As of July 2014 State Library members can also access this database from home. Information on who is eligible for membership and how to join is found on our eresources at Home page.

You can find the database via our Electronic Resources e-Newspapers page or from its catalogue record.

Interested in earlier issues?  You can search digitised issues of The West Australian from late 1879 to 1954 on the Digitised newspapers and more section of TROVE.

The Australian Newspapers service [developed by the National library] allows access to historic Australian newspapers digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program. For further information about the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program (ANDP), view the public website at: http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp

If you need information from issues between 1955 and 2003 they are  available on microfilm (along with earlier and later editions that are also in the online services), you can view the microfilm at the State Library.

If you need help finding information from The West or if you are unable to visit the State Library to use the database or microfilm please contact the State Library’s information services. 

[Updated 19 October 2011, 2 July 2014]

 

The State Film and Video Library Closure

This is to inform you that on the 11^th December 2009 the State Film and Video Library will be disbanded and cease to be a separate lending collection and all memberships will be closed.

Although memberships will be closed you will still have access to film through your local public library as an inter library loan. Film can still be viewed at the State Library and screening programmes such as the Wednesday Matinee will continue. Film will also still be collected in its many formats and added to the Library’s collections where appropriate. The collection of Western Australian film remains a key focus for the State Library.

A review of the State Film and Video Library, declining use over a number of years and our new collection development policy has led to this decision.

What we collect…

Ever wonder how librarians decide what gets included in the library’s collection? What guidelines we use to select resources from the mass of published  information?  That’s where a collection development policy comes in!   The State Library has recently updated it’s Collection Development Policy.  The policy, together with the supporting document Developing our Collections – a Collection Development Policy Framework, is now available on the State Library’s website.  So now you can see not just why we collect, but what we collect and how we collect it.

Research Pro – a new search tool now available at the State Library of WA

Ever been confused about which database to start with or which search engine to use?  Research Pro is a search tool that enables you to run your search across multiple search engines and databases.  Research Pro is now available for use by visitors to the State Library of Western Australia (once you are in the building you’ll find a link on our Main Catalogue page).

Research Pro enables you to search simultaneously across multiple databases – including resources selected from the library’s general and subject-specific subscription databases.

You can customise your search for better results e.g. uncheck the Best Bets box and select a subject group to search more relevant resources.  Results can be printed, emailed and downloaded.

Visit the Library and try this powerful, easy-to-use, and time saving search tool!

(We’d love to know what you think of Research Pro – if you’ve given it a try please take the Survey, a link is on the Main Catalogue page.)