Historical Newspapers on HRVH

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! or so the headline goes on the brochure to check out HRVH Historical Newspapers online. Ok, to be more specific, what is available is a 10 year span of The Kingston Daily Freeman from the years 1903 - 1913 (and 1895 also) - 2974 complete issues available for your perusal. The intention is to spearhead an effort in the Hudson Valley to digitize local historical newspapers with the Daily Freeman being the test sample. Full pages as well as individual articles are searchable and viewable. Take note, The Kingston Daily Freeman is an excellent place to look for primary sources when doing reseach about the Hudson Valley.

HRVH is a collaborative initiative sponsored by Southeastern NY Library Resources Council and local libraries, historical societies, archives, museums across 7 counties in NYS: Greene, Columbia, Dutchess, Ulster, Sullivan, Rockland, Orange and Putnam.

While you are at it, another project which may be of interest to scholars/researchers or casual lookers is the Sound and Story Project of the Hudson Valley. Sound and Story has digitized pieces of oral history collections and posted them online for your listening pleasure. According to their web pages, "Our stories come from many places. Some are in library and museum oral history collections. Some come from recordings we have made. Some have been found by people like you in shoe boxes in the backs of closets. And some have yet to be told."

Some of the information found in this entry comes from promotional material distributed by SENYLRC.

World Digital Library Up and Running

A few weeks ago I mentioned an exciting new resource that was to debut on April 21st for scholars and interested persons - the World Digital Library. Located online at http://www.wdl.org/en/ the WDL taps into international library and university primary source content from around the world. Materials have been digitized from such prestigious institutions as the Central Library, Qatar Foundation, Library of Congress, National Diet Library (Japan), and the Center for the Study of the History of Mexico (CARSO), among others.

The interface is simple and easy to use allowing for searching via 5 different methods:

• place; for example, China, Brazil, and Australia
  
• time line; for example, 8000 BC - 499 AD, etc.
  
• specific topic: philosophy, religion and social sciences, among others
  
• type of item: maps, manuscripts, motion pictures, for example
  
• institution: Bibliotecha Alexandrina, Iraqi National Library and Archives, for instance

There is a high powered zoom function associated with each item so that you can enhance the image you are looking at. Digitization quality is excellent on the books and photographs which makes for an enjoyable experience. The high level description enables you to understand what you are looking at, and if you chose you can read about the item in 7 different languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Russian. All in all, the WDL helps make the world a smaller place and enables unique and rare content to be shared internationally.

Coming Soon to a Computer Near You!

On April 21st, the World Digital Library (WDL) will be unveiled through a collaborative effort of the Library of Congress, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and 32 partner organizations world-wide.

The WDL will present primary sources in multiple languages from countries around the world, and the interface will allow for searching in 7 different languages.

For anyone looking for primary source material, this should be a good source of original items. For further information on primary sources, check out this blog entry from April 11, 2007.

Introducing Research...

Not sure where to start or how to approach researching a topic? Ron Crovisier, our head of Reference Services, created a PowerPoint presentation on Introduction to Research which I am liberally borrowing from to create this entry.

Ask yourself, what subject(s) is my topic about? What do I mean by "subject"? The subject is "the field of knowledge into which the topic fits". Typically, fields of knowledge can be broken down into the sciences, social sciences and humanities. Sciences include physical sciences such as biology, chemistry, math and physics. Social Sciences are psychology, sociology, civilization. Humanities cover art, English literature, philosophy. Jot down your possibilities and try to note how the topic relates to a specific field of knowledge. What kind of question are you trying to answer? Is it one of direct measurement (physical science)? Is it a philosophical question (humanities)? Or is it a social science question?

When you think you know what you're looking for, search online using our catalog, electronic books or databases for information pertaining to your subject. Are you finding suitable resources? If not, narrow or widen your focus to include additional ideas. SUBJECT headings or SUBJECT terms in the databases and catalogs can greatly help you focus in on what really interests you. When in our catalog, if you click on the title of a book, it will take you to the bibliographic record. Three-quarters of the way down the page you'll see links that say SUBJECT. Those links can lead you to additional books on your topic of interest. In the databases, the subject terms will be either on the left hand side or in a box at the top of the screen. Check out this pdf for quick notes on using the databases in the library.

We have 80,000 books in the library, 30,000 electronic books through ebrary, and 60 databases for people to access. Among the books are encyclopedias, dictionaries, and specialized guides on different subjects. Our databases allow for simple or complex searches to be built, and also allow for access to both primary and secondary sources of information. See blog entry on primary sources. In essence, primary sources are first hand accounts of a situation as related in newspapers, diaries, photos. Secondary sources use primary sources to draw conclusions, examine or interpret primary info and may be written years after the event occurred.

Once you've gotten a grip on your research material, you can start outlining and writing your paper. Remember the all important fact to cite your sources! There are a number of citation generators available out there, including KnightCite and there is citing functionality built into the databases and also ebrary. Remember to give us a call, email or meebo us if you are having any trouble, and we'd be glad to help!

Primary Sources of Information

Do you know what a primary source of information is?

A chair made in Boston during the Revolutionary War that still exists today tells a story about the creation of furniture and the materials used during that time period. A person's autobiography from the 1960's would likely reflect the changing times, attitudes and social occurrences that shaped the decade. These are primary sources!

Primary sources give you insight to the times. They are actual informational resources reflecting a particular event or time in history. The items on the list below would be considered primary sources.

• Autobiographies
• Diaries
• Documents
• Eyewitness accounts
• Film footage
• Laws
• Letters
• Newspaper articles
• Novels [written in that period]
  
• Objects from the time
• Oral histories
• Photographs
• Poems, art, music
• Speeches

This list was taken from the internet article, "History Day - Primary and Secondary Sources" by Jennifer Rosenburg.

This being said, the question is then raised, "How can I find primary sources online?" There are a number of choices available. From myDCC or the library computers, click on the History link. From there, you can see a list of links to primary sources through DCC's databases, including the New York Times Archives and Original Sources through Encyclopedia Britannica.

American Memory provides photographs, film, music and documents from by-gone eras.

The Avalon Project covers documents in "law, history and diplomacy".

Many other primary sources can be found online. Ask a librarian for help if you are having trouble finding what you are looking for!