Archive for the ‘Using the collections’ Category

Video highlights the Library’s eResources collection

The National Library subscribes to a large number of subscription databases covering a wide range of subject areas. Many of these databases can be accessed by registered users from home via the Library’s eResources page. A recent collaborative project managed by Reader Services staff has produced a short video on how these databases and resources [...]

Now that’s a lot of enquiries!

The National Library’s Ask a librarian service answers hundreds of offsite reference enquiries each month.  The majority of these enquiries are received via our online enquiry form, though we also receive reference enquiries by phone, letter, fax, email, and chat. To give an idea of figures, in August Library staff answered 2640 reference enquiries from [...]

Confirming UFO “sightings”

A rather quirky reference enquiry received from far away Canada.    Q: Does your library have any record of a strange UFO incident which (reputedly) occurred on June 13, 1961 at Bethungra, N.S.W. in which a 25m-diameter disc became entangled in telephone wires at a railroad station? A: I have done some searching for information about [...]

Looking for old cartoons?

Continuing on with our selection of reference enquiries…we’re not always able to provide the answer to a client – in which case we do try to suggest other avenues of research, though sometimes these are unavoidably arduous options. Q: I’m seeking a copy of a WEG cartoon that was done for the Lorne Surf Life [...]

FAQs – they may answer more enquiries than you think!

Many of our repeatedly asked enquiries are published on our website as FAQs.  These range from library services type questions, how to questions, to more in depth but frequently asked reference enquiries.  Clients visiting the Ask a librarian webpage are asked if they have first checked our FAQs before submitting their enquiry. However, we still often [...]

The most exciting reference enquiry of the week!

Another example of a reference enquiry received via the Library’s Ask a librarian service – perhaps not the most riveting influx of enquiries this week! Q: Is the exercise machine “ab circle pro” patented in Australia? A: You can search the Australian Patent database, AusPat, as well as trademark and design databases, freely from the Online Service section of [...]

Reference enquiries – from the sublime to the ridiculous

The National Library of Australia’s Ask a librarian service receives around nine hundred online reference enquiries a month.  These can cover an enormous range of topics, from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Here’s one example of an enquiry received this week, along with our response.  Happy reading! Q: In 1860, Archbishop Polding travelled to Murrurundi, NSW, [...]