Access newspapers online: Part 2

In part one of our newpaper posting, we looked at the NexisUK database which provides access to the full content of Irish and international newspapers. In Part 2, we will focus on accessing the historical content of Irish newspapers online.

1. The Irish Times Digital Archive
You can access the latest content of the Irish Times online via their website or through NexisUK.  The Irish Times Digital Archive provides access to the archive of the Irish Times covering the period 1859 to about a year ago. Note: you must select ‘News: the historial Irish Times ’ from the drop down database menu (see below). If you select ‘Proquest Newspapers’ you will only be searching the Irish Times from 1995 to date. 

Click here for a short video demonstration on how to perform an Advanced Search of the archive.

2. Irish Newspaper Archive
This database comprises digital image copies of a large number of Irish national and regional newspapers. Click here for a listing of the titles and their coverage. This database is a work in progress and as a result there are some gaps in coverage. Titles include, the Irish Independent 1905-2001, Sunday Independent 1906-2002 and the Freeman’s Journal 1763-1924.

As always, if you need help accessing and using any of our databases please visit our Information Desk on the  ground floor of the Library. If you can’t visit us in person, call the desk @ 01-7005210 or email us @ library.dcu.ie

Informaworld downtime

informaworld will be unavailable on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 between 0500 and 0800.

 

DCU Library training: RefWorks versus Zotero

Details below of forthcoming RefWorks classes for researchers and staff.

We will also be delivering a presentation on Zotero. Zotero is a free, open source alternative to RefWorks. While its still in development and not as well established as RefWorks, it is in many ways easier to use and offers some great new features for researchers. The presentation will cover:
-a demonstration of Zotero’s key features
-comparing Zotero with RefWorks and Mendeley, another rival reference management app.
All staff and students are welcome

All events will take place in Training Room 1, DCU Library.

Schedule:

RefWorks for Researchers and staff. Wednesday, November 11, 1430-1600.  Register here.

Introducing Zotero: the new RefWorks? Tuesday, November 17, 1300-1400. Register here.

Graduate Training: Introduction to RefWorks. Thursday, November 26, 1100-1230. This class is exclusively for first year research masters and PhD students. Register here.

RefWorks for Researchers and staff. Tuesday, December 1, 1000-1130.  Register here.

PhDs and Web 2.0 tools

 

Zoë Corbyn from Times Higher Education has just written that researchers aged between 21 and 27 aren’t using Web 2.0 tools like RSS and social bookmarking in their work.

In my work as a research support librarian, I have been promoting Web 2.0 tools to researchers. An increasing number of researchers are using them but its very far from reaching a critical mass – they’re far from being an essential part of everyone’s work. I believe this is because:

1. RSS feeds from databases and journal publishers are difficult to set up. Publishers often expect users to create personal accounts and click through numerous screens before they get to an RSS icon. Every publisher does things differently – some only allow table of contents alerts, some automatically stop your feed after a year.
2. Social networking/bookmarking. There’s a lot of startup services for researchers and academics – I’ve come across about ten of them – but no single one has taken off yet. Some of them, like Academia.edu, look great, but they’re all stuck in a situation where no one is signing up because none of their friends/colleagues have signed up first.
3. None of these services talk to each other. I can set up a Web of Science feed on my Google Reader, but Google can’t easily transfer the references to RefWorks and its just an tricky sending them on again from RefWorks to my citeulike account. The future may be with Zotero, which is trying to do all this in one service.

The fact is that the volume and complexity of information researchers need is on a different scale from the general public and can’t be simply automated with Web 2.0 tools. That’s why a good working relationship between researchers and librarians is so important. Librarians can offer hands-on help with all these technologies, and advise and train researchers on the best ways to find / manage / share / publish their information.

Originally posted on Read Around Research, a blog on dissemination and publication of research.

Learn how to Cite and Reference – Additional Dates

New dates for our popular class on how to cite and reference information sources correctly are now confirmed.  All welcome!  Whilst the class focusses on the Harvard style of referencing, it will be of benefit to all students who want to brush up on their skills and understanding of citing and referencing. All classes will take place in Training Room 1 on the ground floor of the Library. The dates are:

Tuesday 3rd November 13.00pm-13.45pm
Thursday 5th  November 13.00pm -13.45pm
Monday 9th  November 13.00-13.45pm

Access Irish and international newspapers online: Part 1

The Library has a number of databases which give you access to online newspaper content. The main one is NexisUK which brings you the full content of Irish newspapers and all major international newspapers.  You can search the content of all Irish newspapers by selecting “Irish Publications” from the “Source” drop down menu on the Nexis search screen.  You can also choose to select one newspaper title, for example the Sunday Tribune and just search it. Select “Major World Newspaper” to see the list of titles covered and to search global newspaper content.  Nexis covers approximately 5- 10 years of newspaper content. Watch out for a new post coming soon on accessing the content of the Irish Times from 1859 to date and the historial content of other Irish newspaper titles! If you need help using NexisUK, visit our Information Desk on the ground floor. If you can’t visit in person, you can call the desk when the library is open @ 01-7005218 or email the team at: library.dcu.ie.