<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Now u can search newspapers archive</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>1:53 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 3) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>19885.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Easier to search Straits Times archive
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>National Library's new service lets users access digitised copies of this newspaper </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Serene Luo </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
WHEN freelance tour guide Diana Chua needed information on Bukit Brown cemetery along Lornie Road to spice up her tour of the place, reference books offered only cut-and-dried facts.
She wanted the colour and details of the people buried there, for instance.
A new service by the National Library, enabling her to search for information from digitised copies of The Straits Times dating as far back as 1845, came to her rescue.
No, she did not need to scroll through countless reels of dusty microfilmed pages of the newspaper by month and year. Newspaper searches are now possible through the use of keywords, similar to using Google.
Mrs Chua, who is in her late 40s, said: 'Microfilm wasn't categorised, and the scrolling words made my eyeballs feel like they were rolling backwards. This search is more specific and gives you more relevant results.'
The NewspaperSG service is only in its soft launch phase, but pulled in 48,000 separate visitors between April and last month.
It was a collaboration between the National Library Board and Singapore Press Holdings that paved the way for relatively recent content of The Straits Times to be archived.
Most libraries in other parts of the world digitise only material older than 70 years, after copyright lapses.
So far, microfilms of every issue of this newspaper up to 1982 have been scanned and put into a searchable online database. Microfilm scans of the paper up to 2007 will be completed by early next year. Post 2007, the newspaper exists in a digital version.
During the scanning, optical character recognition software converts the scanned image into text, so search engines can be used.
Dr Barry Pereira, 48, who heads the Eurasian Association's heritage committee, is glad he no longer has to do searches by looking through entire copies of the newspaper, armed with only a date.
Users may access the service from computers in all libraries at three cents a minute. Prints cost $1 per page.
Online access from home, through [URL="http://newspapers.nl.sg/"]http://newspapers.nl.sg[/URL], is free, but only 50 words of each item appear. Full results are possible only with a visit to the library.
=> What's the rationale? To make Sporns travel and ensure profitability of the Peasants' transport? And weren't there compraints that the grandoise but useless library is already short of tables and chairs?
The National Library Board is in talks to get more newspapers - even defunct ones like The New Nation and Sin Chew Jit Poh - on board.
Tour guide Mrs Chua now counts the service as one of her best sources of information. With it, she ferreted out a nugget about a gruesome murder that occurred at Bukit Brown.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>National Library's new service lets users access digitised copies of this newspaper </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Serene Luo </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
WHEN freelance tour guide Diana Chua needed information on Bukit Brown cemetery along Lornie Road to spice up her tour of the place, reference books offered only cut-and-dried facts.
She wanted the colour and details of the people buried there, for instance.
A new service by the National Library, enabling her to search for information from digitised copies of The Straits Times dating as far back as 1845, came to her rescue.
No, she did not need to scroll through countless reels of dusty microfilmed pages of the newspaper by month and year. Newspaper searches are now possible through the use of keywords, similar to using Google.
Mrs Chua, who is in her late 40s, said: 'Microfilm wasn't categorised, and the scrolling words made my eyeballs feel like they were rolling backwards. This search is more specific and gives you more relevant results.'
The NewspaperSG service is only in its soft launch phase, but pulled in 48,000 separate visitors between April and last month.
It was a collaboration between the National Library Board and Singapore Press Holdings that paved the way for relatively recent content of The Straits Times to be archived.
Most libraries in other parts of the world digitise only material older than 70 years, after copyright lapses.
So far, microfilms of every issue of this newspaper up to 1982 have been scanned and put into a searchable online database. Microfilm scans of the paper up to 2007 will be completed by early next year. Post 2007, the newspaper exists in a digital version.
During the scanning, optical character recognition software converts the scanned image into text, so search engines can be used.
Dr Barry Pereira, 48, who heads the Eurasian Association's heritage committee, is glad he no longer has to do searches by looking through entire copies of the newspaper, armed with only a date.
Users may access the service from computers in all libraries at three cents a minute. Prints cost $1 per page.
Online access from home, through [URL="http://newspapers.nl.sg/"]http://newspapers.nl.sg[/URL], is free, but only 50 words of each item appear. Full results are possible only with a visit to the library.
=> What's the rationale? To make Sporns travel and ensure profitability of the Peasants' transport? And weren't there compraints that the grandoise but useless library is already short of tables and chairs?
The National Library Board is in talks to get more newspapers - even defunct ones like The New Nation and Sin Chew Jit Poh - on board.
Tour guide Mrs Chua now counts the service as one of her best sources of information. With it, she ferreted out a nugget about a gruesome murder that occurred at Bukit Brown.
[email protected]
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