Yahoo in Japanese

We have a regular customer who accesses Yahoo in Japanese on our public access computers. Unfortunately only Word Processing, one Research and one OPAC machine are the only computers that will display Yahoo in Japanese. The solution that IT has provided in order to display Yahoo in Japanese on the other computers is to load Firefox as the internet browser, go to www.yahoo.co.jp and then click on View, then encoding and then select Japanese.

Merry Christmas

Doesn't the library look good now! Just a bit of fine tuning to take place next year in relation to subject 'rooms' but at least the books are on the shelves.

I'm sure we are all looking forward to a break between Chrtistmas and New Year! Wishing everyone a safe and happy Christmas.

Where are they?

Hi all
Stage 2 of the refurbishment is about to get underway! You will have noticed the non fiction collection being moved towards the back to allow work to start on the front shelves.
You may not have noticed that the Council Publications and Reference Genealogy collection has been moved. These publications are now located downstairs where Stack Reference used to be located. Staff will now need to retrieve these items if they are requested by library members. Very soon the Car Manuals and the year 2000 Electoral Roll will also be found there.

The collection of Genealogy CD Roms are now located immediately in front of the Circulation Desk on Level 1, as this collection has the heaviest use.

The Research Computers were also relocated this morning closer to the Information desk and new blinds will be organised next week to reduce the glare and heat.

All going according to plan the refurbishment should be completed before Christmas.

How exciting!

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Hi all
For any of you having difficulties accessing ABS census data this online tutorial may be of some assistance:
http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/4a256353001af3ed4b2562bb00121564/c10266d6dfeb4815ca25749f001466c0!OpenDocument

The link below lists ABS Services for Libraries and don't forget that the ABS is happy to answer any queries over the phone on 1300 135 070
Even the ABS staff use this number as the website contains approx 80 000 pages!
http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/Services+for+Libraries+-+LEP

My favourite website for Wagga census data is saved in the tag cloud under statistics. Here is the link: http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/files/StatsAll.xls
On this site, using the drop down menu you can compare Wagga stats to various other cities.

Career Info

CSU has just launched a new website which is particularly yummy.
Go to www.chooseacareer.com.au
This will come in handy as we are not renewing our subcription to OZJAC online.
This website has also been saved in our tag cloud under 'youth' and 'careers'.

Due to an upgrade our tag cloud is not displaying properly at the moment but we hope to have this fixed shortly!

Assignment Alert - Year 6 Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart Year 6 are currently doing an assignment on a particular global aid organisation and how it provides support, information and assistance to developing countries.

Resources available in the library include:
Books
The International Red Cross 361.77 PER
The World Health Organization 362.1 POW
UNICEF 362.7 PRI
United Nations 341.23 MAL, 341.231 MEL

Databases
Britannica Online Database

Other Global Aid Organisations
Oxfam
Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without borders)
CARE



Please add to the list above, as you research the organisations for students.
Margot

National Australian Newspapers Online

Just to let you know that the National Library of Australia is doing beta testing of their search interface for the national Australian Newspapers project.
The Beta service contains 70,000 newspaper pages from 1803 onwards and additional pages are being added each week.
You can find an article or an issue from here: http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home
Information on the digitisation project is available here: http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/

Moving Reference to Loan!

Hi All
As you can see we are in the process of moving all reference books into loans. Soon almost all reference books will be available for loan. It will be interesting to see how well they are borrowed. We have kept just a couple of shelves of ready reference close to the desk. The space that will become available will allow the relocation of the research computers closer to the reference desk for ease of assistance to library members and I believe a reading area will also be located here.

Tax Time

Hi all
Just a reminder that Wagga Wagga City Library is unable to provide the facilites to lodge tax returns online. Documents may be saved to disc or printed. I had a client ask about this and I couldn't remember where I had read that we could not provide this facility. It is actually printed on the Wagga City Library website in the Links section.
Margot

Free eBooks

Check out this great site. It's now in the Wagga City Library Tag Cloud. I've added a new tag called eBooks. This site contains over 1600 eBooks. There is quite a lot of Australian content including the Dictionary of Australian Biography and a timeline of Australian History.

Here's a link to the site: http://gutenberg.net.au/index.html

Belonging

This website from the Northern Beaches area contains a listing of suggested texts. Follow the link below.
http://www.insidebreak.org.au/belonging.html#hsc2
The website also contains other useful resources for HSC students.

Author Read Alike Map - GNOOKS

Have you noticed this great website hidden in our tag cloud under the heading Readers Advisory?
http://www.gnooks.com/
Go to the "Map of Literature" box and enter in your favourite author and see what other authors come up in a map. It's really quite amazing. It can give you names of other authors you may like to read. Today it gave one client a thrill and they can't wait to get home to try out some more authors.

NSW Reference & Information Services Group

Hi All
Please note the links that I have added on the right hand side of the screen for the NSW Reference Group. These are great sites for the exchange and discussion of ideas and practices of reference & information services.

Online Community Profile for Wagga Wagga LGA

There should be a link from the council website to the community profile, but last time I checked it was not there.

Instead use www.id.com.au/profile/waggawagga

There is a map to show which statistical area is where - they can be broken down to suburb or rural location.

Hop in and have a play around there is a lot of good information here. All the statistics you will ever need for Wagga!

The Physicians Desk

The Physicians Desk is a publication produced Thomson Healthcare ISBN-13: 9781563635274 . It was recently requested as a purchase, however as the book is an American publication and only holds currency for one year, not a wise way to spend our budget. I have found this website http://www.pdrhealth.com/drugs/drugs-index.aspx posted by Thomson which may be of use to patrons wishing to have access to prescription drug information also of Consumer Health Complete

Chrissie

Database Access

Database Access
WWCL Data bases can be Accessed here while our website is being repaired

Ancestry Library Edition

Hi All
Just noticed an addition to Ancestry.com. You can now search Victorian Rural Cemetery Records from 1836-1988.

American Fields

Hi again
I have a repeat customer who may come in again and ask about American Fields. Apparently the town of Humula was previously known by this name.

There is a brief reference to the name in B. Warwick's "A History of Humula, its School and the District" located at 994.48 HUM in the Non Fiction section.

Sherry Morris CD ROM

Hi All
Just to let you know one of the Sherry Morris CD Roms is now kept in the reference desk drawer for easy access.
The "Biographical Index of Wagga Wagga up to 1920s" is a great ready reference tool for questions about local people.
Its easy to use. Just click on 'Index' and then the alphabet comes up for you to search by Surname.

Family History

(Photos make blogs look better!)

I know how much everyone loves dealing with family history questions. I am perfectly happy for people to send them straight to me but for when I am not here I thought I'd give you a quick outline of how I deal with them.

- First I check the catalogue using anyword - you never know.

- Then I look at Sherry Morris' Biographical Index of Wagga up to the 1920s. There are a vast number of entries on this CD-ROM (kept in Local Studies, first row, top right) and sometimes the entries are very basic, other times quite detailed.

- If the entry says they were involved with a particular industry eg. wine, brewery or flour mills then I look in Sherry Morris' Wagga Wagga Industries, the first 80 years: 1846-1926.

- If I can't find anything (not everyone does something noteworthy) I point them to the cemetery transcription books in RG. To check if someone died in Wagga check the historical indexes at http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm

- There is also the wonderful option of giving them a green brochure and sending them to the Family History Society, Archives or the Mormons. If there are no green brochures at the desk, there should be more in the drawer in the genealogy brochure file.

There is a folder in the drawer at the reference desk that has lots of Family History tips in it - check it out.

Ancestry.com does not have births, deaths and marriages (bdm) information for Australia. It has some early electoral rolls and various other records. For bdms go straight to the state bdm registry.

Word processing

I have just been working on some Web 2.0 stuff and came across a free, online word processor. I think it used to be called Writely but is now Google Docs and is good because you can do all the basic word processing stuff - even powerpoint presentations - and people can work on the same document simultaneously. You can invite collaborators or just viewers. It is, apparently, a legitimate alternative to Word.

TRAC Geography Assignment - Option 3

Urban Growth and Decline in Wagga - see http://www.cchange.org.au/resources/1/190307Riverina-MurrayPopOverview1996-2006.pdf
Also see Wagga Wagga City Population Statistics in Local Studies collection 304.6009WAG.

Anglican College (TRAC) Geography Assignment - Option 1

This is the first option for the assignment:

Land and Water Management at Lake Albert

The 2005 Wagga Wagga Development Control Plan – Lake Albert Catchment – this is more recent than what we have in Local Studies
http://www.wagga.nsw.gov.au/resources/documents/26_Lake_Albert_Catchment.pdf

Specification for the Preparation of a Land and Water Mgt Plan.
http://www.wagga.nsw.gov.au/resources/documents/Ap28_Land_and_Water_Management_Plan.pdf

New South Wales Land and water management

http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/index.php?id=325

In Local Studies
Lake Albert Urban Water Reuse Demonstration Project, Survey Report – 628.38HIG
Lake Albert Monitoring Report 333.9163
City of Wagga Wagga Plan of Management, Lake Albert Southern Foreshore – 333.9163 WAG
Lake Albert Catchment, New guidelines for Sustainable Development – 333.9163WAG
Submissions for the Lake Albert Catchment Study – 333.9162 SUB

Electoral Rolls

Hi All
Yet again we had a client insisting that they have been told that we hold all Electoral Rolls. As you know we only have a hard copy version for the year 2000 in Reference Genealogy. According to the AEC website at http://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/About_Electoral_Roll/How_to_view_electoral_roll.htm every AEC office has the Commonwealth electoral roll available for viewing in electronic format. Our nearest AEC office is in Narrandera. The roll is not available for sale in any format.

The State Records Authority website http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/archives_in_brief_5_1390.asp contains further information relating to past electoral rolls and where you can view them. If you click on "community access points" at the bottom of the page it will take you to a map. Wagga's community access point is CSU Regional Archives in Hely Avenue.
Hope this is helpful.
Margot

Preservation of Memorabilia

Hi All
A query this time from a client wanting to know how to preserve her genealogical resources, including photographs. This web site from the Department of Veteran's Affairs http://www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat/2001/memorabilia/index.htm contains a publication called "Caring for Your Wartime Memorabilia". This online publication was very useful containing information on handling, storage and cleaning of items.
Regards
Margot

Videos Available online

Hi All
Just got a telephone query re videos on the human body. Did you know that you can access a large video collection using our online databases? Go to our Online Resources page on the Library Website and select Science Reference Centre. Click on the Images/Video button and then search within this collection. There is an animation of how the human body works with sound. This client had a home computer and was going to access this video from home.

Just a note if you try this on staff computers. Web Marshall blocks a number of these videos. Try them out at home.

Happy searching
Margot

Land title search

I had a lady in looking to find out who owns a particular property in Victoria. She was trying to avoid paying her solicitor to find out. I tried looking up the Valuer General, which had been suggested to her, but couldn't fid what she needed. In the end I went to http://www.myrp.com.au/ where you can look up any property in Australia and it will say when it was last sold and if it is a rental. From that she was able to deduce that the man still owned the property. You can buy reports from them with more information as well. I would upload an image but that seems to take forever on work computers!
From Amy (I accidentally forgot to log in as myself).

Welcome

Welcome to the Wagga City Library Reference Update Blog!

The aim of this blog is to keep reference desk staff up to date with the happenings on the reference desk and to highlight reference resources available in the library.