News and Microforms Reference Desk Blog

This is a public web space for News and Microforms Library staff and faculty to share reference and operational information, post answers to recurring questions, explanations of class assignments, and other information to help with the News and Microforms Reference/Service Desk

NML Homepage and Press Display Widget Problem

I noticed (and Debora agrees) that there is a problem with the Press Display widget.  The problem is that  you can't access any page but the front page of the paper.  If you try to change the page, it brings you to a screen asking you to either buy a single issue of Press Display or log in as an existing paying customer.  It seems that we'll have to remove the widget from our homepage to avoid confusion for our patrons (this may take a few days to process).  It would have been a nice feature otherwise.

Carol

posted by: newsmicro at 18:03 | link | comments (3) |

SAVE AS

We are in the final week of classes when students are completing their assignments.
In the past, DLT observed problems students had with the opening/correcting/saving an attachment in the webmail. After opening an attachment in the webmail, the document is saved by default to a temporary space on the computer. When students save their file it is not saving it back to their webmail, but to that temp space and gets erased after they log off. This means that any changes they made are lost.

DLT cannot retrieve lost work for them.  

The solution to this problem for students is – SAVE AS - in Word, Excel, etc. and then save document to either USB key drive or network drive.  

Please, help students avoid the stress, disappointment, and loss of time of reminding them to use the SAVE AS function when working on public computers.

Posted by Lyubov on behalf of Debora

posted by: newsmicro at 19:03 | link | comments (2) |

Historical newspaper searching

In assisting a student with the Boston Massacre assignment, I discovered that the British historical newspaper databases search the text as it "appears" and not necessarily as it is spelled.  The database uses OCR, or Optical Character Recognition to locate search terms.  You may have noticed that in 17th and 18th century newspapers the 's' looks like an 'f'.  When I searched for 'Boston', I did not get any results.  However, I changed the search to 'Bofton', and I got several hits.  Please be aware of these little eccentricities when helping users in the databases.

Another thing to consider with British newspaper searches is the difference between British and American spellings of the same words (labor/labour).  They also would spell things with a double consonant in a word (Brittish) or with an 'e' on the end of a word that would normally not have one (Englande).  Be aware of spelling variations when searching to maximize the results.

We will continue to keep you informed of these little hints and tips as they become available.  Lisa

posted by: newsmicro at 19:53 | link | comments (5) |

Civil War History 020 assignment

Hello desk staff,

There is a history assignment due on Wednesday, April 23rd, for which students will be coming to us for help.  The students are looking for events that occurred before and during the American Civil War, 1850s-1860s.  You can use the following strategies to help them.

The students will want to find newspapers from the antebellum period in the United States (the third question includes the Civil War period) from specific northern and southern states.  There are some sources on microfilm and others in the America's Historical Newspapers database.  The Libraries has recently subscribed to another US newspaper database, Nineteenth Century US Newspapers, that will also yield good search results.  It is on the A-Z List under 'N.'

As for the microfilm titles, use NewsCAT to locate newspapers within the collection for these eras by choosing "1850-1874" as the time period and "microfilm" as the format.  Show them that they can also limit by state if they choose.

The America's Historical Newspapers database has many titles for this time period, but there are some that do not have complete coverage for this time period.  Rather than having them browse titles in this resource, show them how to do a search.  First, click the "Places of Publication" tab and highlight all of the states they want to search.  Then, click the "Dates and Eras" tab and either select Antebellum or Civil War era (James Buchanan or Abraham Lincoln under Presidential Eras should also work) or use the date options on the left of the page to narrow down the time frame more specifically for the search.  Finally, enter a keyword(s) at the top of the page.  Practice with some searches of your own so that you will be better prepared to help them as needed.

The Nineteenth Century US Newspapers database will search with the same parameters.  Use the Advanced Search page.  Select a date or date range from the drop-down menus for day/month/year.  Choose states or cities from the drop-down menus as well.  The database will allow you to search up to 10 geographic designations (use CTRL + left mouse click to enter multiple selections).  Enter one or more keywords at the top of the page.  Please familiarize yourself with this database.  Let us know if you are having problems using this new source.  NOTE: These titles are not yet in NewsCAT.  Therefore, you need to show them how to get directly to the database.

They may not be permitted to use Pennsylvania or New York newspapers, but if they are, don't forget about the New York Times Historical database and the Pennsylvania Civil War Newspapers database, as well as several microfilm titles for this era.  NOTE: There are several new titles in the Pennsylvania Civil War Newspapers  database that are not entered into NewsCAT at this time.  Please be aware of this and show them directly to the database.

And, as always, if you have questions or are not sure how to proceed, please ask any of the full-time staff.  We will be more than glad to help you help the students.

Happy hunting, Lisa

posted by: newsmicro at 00:24 | link | comments (5) |

Pearl Harbor question

A student recently had a reference request for newspaper articles about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  The student was looking for an American and Japanese perspective in English-language sources. 

What would you use to see if we have English-language Japanese newspapers in the collection?  What other sources could you recommend that might have offered a non-US perspective of an historical event?  Think about allies of each side in wartime, translations of news sources that might be available, collections that contain newspaper content.

See what you come up with and please let us know if you have any questions.  Lisa

posted by: newsmicro at 00:21 | link | comments (5) |

Boston Massacre reference question

We have received a couple of questions from students looking for newspaper articles reporting the Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770).  These students were looking for reports of the incident from American colonial and British newspapers to compare coverage of the event.  It appears to be a whole class assignment, so there will probably be more students coming in for help.  There are a couple of databases you can use to help them.

First is the America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1922) database.  You can use geography, date, and keyword to refine your search.  This databse will take care of the American perspective.  For the British perspective, use either Burney Collection 17th-18th Century Newspapers or British Newspapers, 1600-1900.  (All of these databases are linked from the News and Microforms Library Historical Newspapers web page--http://www.libraries.psu.edu/newsandmicroforms/news/historical.htm)  You can limit your searches in these databases by geography, newspaper titles, dates and keywords.  Take a look at them and see if you can come up with information that the students may be searching for.  NOTE: The titles for the British newspaper collections are not yet in NewsCAT.  You need to show students how to get directly into the databases.

Note the time period of the event.  When doing historical searches, please be aware of the following things:  language (did they call it a massacre in the papers?), transportation limitations (no planes, trains, or automobiles, so how long did it take for news to travel from Boston to London or even from Boston to South Carolina?).  Help students be aware of these things as well.  If you have questions about doing historical searches, please ask the full-time staff.  We will be glad to help.

Let us know if you have any questions or problems using the databases or locating information about the event.  Lisa

posted by: newsmicro at 00:02 | link | comments (5) |

Assignment: USA Today

Students attending Advertising /PR class, have assignment to look at the USA Today issues for the last week. It was noticed that the USA Today newspaper issues started to disappear from the shelves in News and Microforms Library collection.

Despite the disappearance of USA Today issues, we are able to assist students with their assignment. Please, refer students and researchers to the newspaper database – PRESS DISPLAY – for issue views of issues during the last 6 weeks.

Note: newspaper website and ProQuest National Newspaper will not be useful for their assignment, since the layout of the newspaper is crucial for their assignment.

Posted by Lyubov on behalf of Debora

posted by: newsmicro at 18:54 | link | comments (4) |

Comm 401 assignment - advertisements (Please note the change in call number for Ladies Home Journal - AP2.L135)

Professor Risley has assigned his Comm 401 students the following assignment:
Choose a magazine published from 1940-1965 and discuss the advertising found in it. Describe three or four of the ads that grabbed your attention, including the copy and art used. How do the ads differ from earlier newspaper ads and how do they differ from magazine ads found today? How would you characterize the approach of the ads in general?  What type of products were advertised [target audience]? Be sure to note the magazine you examined and the date(s). You shoud choose your magazine from the following list: Time (F322), Ladies Home Journal (now AP2.L135, formerly call #F2091), Saturday Evening Post (F2094), Sports Illustrated (F533), and New Yorker (F450). [Note: You can look at either original copies of the magazines available in the Pattee stacks or the microfilm version. The call letters listed above are for the microfilm version.]

 Due date: 4/9/2008  (Sandy)

Posted by Carol for Debora

posted by: newsmicro at 22:43 | link | comments (3) |

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

To all:
We've added a link to the NML Home page that links to a more complete page about the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.
We get regular questions in NML about the NML Sanborn Map collection.  Read the information carefully on the link (which goes to the Earth and Mineral Sciences Library).  The Special Collections Library has a complete set of PENNSYLVANIA Sanborn maps for certain years and cities.  In NML we have selected holdings on microfilm for Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey.

Because of the nature of these maps and the reduction ratio they aren't all that much fun to view on the microfilm and printing/scanning is a challenge.  So, if Special Collections is open, we will often refer patrons to that location for PA maps to look at the maps, which are quite lovely and a wonderful to use.  The link from the E&MS page referred to above is also providing links to other states where there are scanned images of some of these maps.

If users want more complete reference help with Sanborn Maps (beyond wanting the microfilm), the best option is to send them to the Maps Library (there are different editions for each community and they have a reference book that provides that information) or directly to Special Collections.
Our collection is usually a back up on weekends or evenings when Special Collections or the Maps Library aren't open.

Please comment. and take time to find the Sanborn Map CAT record a keyword search "sanborn fire insurance maps" works nicely.

Best.  Debora

posted by: newsmicro at 21:39 | link | comments (5) |

Le Figaro

Le Figaro, Microfilm E218, temporarily, is located on a cart near the cabinet marked Microfilm E174-E218.
UPDATE: Microfilm E218 is now located back in its cabinet.

posted by: newsmicro at 20:03 | link | comments (5) |

Template by motime.com  |  header image credit: Markus Gann © www.begann.de