Newspaper Databases Presentation - Year 12 CAFS

Last week, I had the opportunity to present a research skills lesson to a Year 12 Community and Family Studies Class. They are undertaking an assessment task that requires them to locate newspaper articles on homeless people and the aged.

I embraced this opportunity given how I value the role of newspapers in education and would like to see students engage with newspapers (preferably in print form but digitally as a minimum) to locate valuable and reliable material.

The presentation focused on:

• How to access newspaper databases via the State Library of NSW
• Use of Boolean operators and filters within databases to narrow down their search results
• Evaluate the usefulness and reliability of articles using the RAVEN source evaluation model (similar to CRAPP)
• How to save and back up articles relevant to their research for the task.

I focused on the following databases:

• Australia and New Zealand Newsstream (Proquest) - I performed a live demonstration on the screen of how to use filters, e.g. selecting publications, timeframes, etc
• Sydney Morning Herald (Library Edition)
• PressReader
• Newsbank & Factiva (alternatives for broader searches)

I even showed the students how to download, save and email articles to their inboxes and obtain an academic citation for their reference list or bibliography, as databases such as Australia and New Zealand Newstream can prepare them for you in line with referencing systems. 

One key aspect of the presentation was debunking Google or search engines as the best place to find news as databases are:

• More reliable and credible
• Current
• Relevant to Research
• Able to provide better search options
• Able to offer more options such as newspapers, archives and regional news
• Able to filter out "fake news" or unreliable sources

The weaknesses of a Google search are:

• Results are not always reliable
• Based on what it thinks that you, the user wants
• Preference to list "popular" results at the top of search results
• Paywalls

The students certainly enjoyed the presentation and hopefully do well. The students asked me some great questions; many of them are regulars in the library for their study periods or simply visiting during their break times. 

Newspapers in Education

I am curious if our major newspapers offered Newspapers in Education programs.

Recently, I emailed News Corporation and received no response, but Nine Entertainment (owners of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review replied to my email by indicating that the available resources are the newspaper itself, whether it was print or digital.

News Corporation runs Kids News, which contains news articles curated for children

https://www.kidsnews.com.au/ along with teaching resources.

It's disappointing, that there are no such programs on offer, given how newspapers do have a place in our schools, given that even with digital technologies, they still offer credible and reliable information on what is happening in our world.

I have prepared an article for the School Library Association of NSW blog, which explores the role of newspapers in our schools which will be published soon.

The decline of Newsagents - What it means for school libraries?

Last term, I provided some thoughts on the decline of newsagents focusing on their closures and how is a source of information is being taken away from us, especially access to newspapers and magazines.

But what does it mean for school libraries?

Firstly the closure of newsagents has taken away a source for where schools can acquire newspapers and periodicals. In Sydney, it was possible for schools to arrange for delivery of newspapers directly through the newsagent and could control when it could be delivered, e.g. weekdays. This is no longer possible as newspaper delivery is arranged through the publisher. For the newsagent, it has meant the loss of commissions and revenue through delivery fees (One paid extra on top of the cover price to have it delivered). If a newspaper is not delivered on a particular day, you miss out, and there is no option to have a copy delivered. You get an additional delivery tacked onto the existing subscription. With newsagents, one could call or attend in person if a newspaper was not delivered and it resolved on that day. 

Schools could arrange standing orders through newsagents, even if it came at the sacrifice of saving money on a subscription, but it gave the school library control of when they could purchase a magazine. Newsagents could once rely on the standing orders customers made. Not anymore.

Magazine publishers largely control subscriptions and can also be purchased through online distributors such as isubscribe.com.au or Booktopia. While this may bring the cost of purchasing the magazines lower (good for schools), one has to question the reliability at times, especially if it is lost in the post or overseas in transit. The downside is that control of subscriptions for the customer drops. What if a credit card is lost or log in details for the account are lost? Does it mean subscribing forever? Note that subscriptions cover a time period, and you may not be entitled to a pro-rata refund. You have to let the subscription time period end. Some subscriptions auto-renew. If you don't terminate before the end of the current subscription, you may be stuck forever.

Even in this age of technology and access to apps like PressReader and RBDigital, which open us up to countless magazines from around the world, I still will become aware of titles by simply browsing at a newsagency and seeing what they offer. The ones in the Sydney CBD have introduced me to international titles, along with larger or reputable newsagencies in the suburbs. Without newsagents, how will I become aware of good magazines that students can read?

In recent times, I have purchased a copy of titles merely to see their relevance to the students, and this was through a newsagent. If they close, I lose that option. Reading magazines online is not the same.

The decline of newsagents

Newspapers and magazines can be used to enhance literacy skills but also provide students with information that they can apply in any subject. Reading newspapers while I was at school helped me to relate what I was learning in the classroom to current events and vice versa, and I believe that this helped me do well academically in the classroom. 

Sadly a major source of newspapers and magazines - the newsagent has fallen to store closures. The pace of closures has accelerated further in recent years. 

Newsagents now compete with supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol stations for the sale of newspapers and magazines and big-box retailers such as Officeworks, BigW, Target and Kmart for stationery.

Even lottery sales cannot escape competition. In NSW, it is possible to purchase lottery tickets online or in person at a convenience store or petrol station, despite the "rivers of gold" that lottery sales bring to the agent. 

Newspaper publishers have taken over the home delivery of newspapers, which in decades past provided income for newsagents. You could either have home delivery organised through the publisher (paid the newsagent commission per newspaper delivered) or you could arrange directly with the newsagent for home delivery with the delivery fee added to the cover price of the newspaper.

Closures mean that a source of information is being taken away from us and along with a source of reading material, but also the control how of how we acquire and maintain a newspaper and magazine collection within a school.

The decline of newsagencies, along with my interest in reading newspapers and magazines, has motivated me to explore this. 

After the holidays, I am going to reflect on their decline and what it means for us in terms of promoting reading.

Midterm Action

It feels hard at the moment to sit and write about what I have been up to, read or reflected on.

It is an interesting time for me as I work out of a temporary library office as the library itself undergoes some building works for the rest of the term.

But the show goes on. We may not be able to lend books, but we can extend the loans or encourage students to borrow eBooks.

We have been processing new books which will head straight to our new books shelves when we reopen.

Also, I thought I'd share an article from The Sunday Telegraph (p. 19, 14 August 2022) with Dr Helen Adam from Edith Cowan University mentioning that there is ""really strong evidence" that schools with well-resourced libraries and a qualified teacher librarian got better NAPLAN and other test results". This was in response to research by Consumer Data Company Fonto revealing that 68% of parents think that their children read at least as much if not more than when they were youngsters.

Source: Cogdon, K. 2022. "Lockdown silver lining: our kids are reading more than we did". The Sunday Telegraph: 19.

What wsa encouraging too was that in the past two years more than 30 million childrens books were being sold on an annual basis in Australia.

Stop Reading the News by Rolf Dobelli

I confess to being a news nut. I recall watching the news each night as a six year old, even if I didn't completely understand what the content was about. It may have been years before I realised that I was actually a witness to history if I see or read an item years later. I enjoyed reading newspapers as a seven year old, even if it was just the weather page but just seeing pages loaded with lots of words and pictures. It made me feel grown up. 

Recently, I read Stop Reading the News by Rolf Dobelli and his main argument is that watching, reading, or listening to the news is harmful to a person and impacts our personal wellbeing. He goes as far as arguing that people are less likely to concentrate.

In addition, he argued that the content we view is pointless and that if its important, we will hear about it. The news is irrelevant.

He also suggested that in building our knowledge and understanding in the world, that we read on topics that interest us and read deeply into it. We should specialise our knowledge on a small range of fields.

I can see his point, particularly when it comes to reading deeply into a topic and as an educator, I need to encourage students to read widely and deeply on a topic.

But I have concerns about having to not watch, read or listen to the news, particularly in an educational context because watching the nightly news, reading a daily newspaper or reading a magazine helps us to make connections between the theory and application of knowledge. 

My best subject in the HSC in 2003 was Legal Studies. By watching the news and reading the newspaper each day, I was exposed to how the law was being applied. I kept folders of newspaper clippings from court cases or legislation being debated in our State and Federal Parliaments. I would be encouraging students in 2022 to do the same.

I think we as a species are wired to be curious about the world and its happenings but also to be able to share with others what is going on the world.

But if it was a takeaway note for me, maybe we need to slow our approach to how we view the news. For example, I should try and focus on longer articles instead of shorter articles. Fortuantely, I still subscribe to printed newspapers. The digital replica is the lazy way out unless on a ery crowded train. I notice in a printed sense, I abosrb the news more slowly but at the same time immerse myself with the content. 

We should not fear if we miss the nightly news on television or not have enough time to read it the next day. 

Digital Replicas of The Sydney Morning Herald (back issues)

Newspapers have made an effort in recent to provide subscribers access to articles featured in back editions, whether they go back 10 years, 25 years or since publication of the first issue.

The OZTL_NET forum had a request from one person about accessing an article from a specific edition in 2002.

I have noticed that The Sydney Morning Herald has appeared to spread itself far and wide in providing databases to provide specific timeframes.

Newspapers.Com (Paid database) has issues dating back to 1831, when publication began. Anything up to 1954 is freely available on Trove. What I like about it is the ability to download a full page in jpeg format or as a pdf for easy printing in a great size.

The disadvantage is that they end at January 31, 2002 and some editions are not listed.

They also have one archive that covers 1955-1995. This is available if you a member of the State Library of NSW.

Many libraries provide the library edition that covers 2006 - today.

I think its created some problems for what formerly was Fairfax. Wouldn't it make sense to consolidate it all into one database?

Not to mention, it creates more costs for libraries that want to provide access to one has been regarded as one of the world's great newspapers.

Databases like Factiva will list articles from the newspaper to cover the 2002-2006 period, but what if the individual wants to view a more authentic version of the article?

What about the library edition in schools?

I think generally they are great in providing a digital replica of the newspaper but is limited in its back library to January 1 2006. Would be great if they could add editions before 2006 to help students in their research, especially history students.

Newspapers in the library - 2018

Two years ago, I reflected on the need for students to access newspapers in the school library and use it to support their learning.

My current school used to provide newspapers to students, but no longer do.

However, I am in the process of seeking the return of at least one daily newspaper.

I am currently surveying staff who have rallied behind the idea. I have asked them to identify which newspaper/s should be available and then asked them if they would use each of the major newspapers in the classroom. I am looking forward to what the survey results are.

It is encouraging to see classroom teachers valuing the relevance of newspapers to student learning!!!

Time to ditch printed magazines?

Last year, I shared insights on ePeriodical apps including Pressreader and Zinio. Recently, I was told by a colleague about the relevance of Periodical Collections in school libraries.

They advised me that it is no longer worth spending. The argument was that newspapers and magazines incurred unnecessary expenses because of the easy disposal, whereas a book has a longer shelf life.

I can see their point, particularly as apps such as Zinio will allow you to access back issues for a period of time and once "loaned", it is yours forever. You can download copies to your app, delete them and if you need it again in the future download it again.

The digital replica can in effect have the life that a printed book would otherwise have.

However, studies show the preference for printed resources. Is forcing one to go digital the right way or wrong way?

While the benefits might include access to a greater variety of periodicals, ease of convenience, access to back issues and less maintenance of the periodical collection, the downside is that school students lose an opportunity to locate content from printed periodicals or seek out a printed copy if they enjoy the web content.

What is interesting though is that more magazines e.g. Time Magazine actually provide free digital subscriptions to print subscribers. Even if you take out a digital only subscription, you will have to pay the same price. You might as well get the combined subscription and provide the online login (via your intranet or learning management system).

With access to Australian newspapers, the web services provided for digital replicas and websites to schools is still poor with unfriendly interfaces along with the high costs of providing the service. At this stage, it would be preferred that a printed editions be made available and a single login (via your intranet of learning management system) to the website and digital replica. The digital access would only work for access on a web browser.

As for magazines, abolishing the entire print collection won't work at this stage. Rather, concentrate on the popular titles and cull the less popular ones. If a school can afford a zinio or Pressreader subscription, it should be used to supplement the existing collection. Public Libraries have scaled their collections of printed magazines while providing others online.

And try and see if your subscription includes digital access as to get the best of both worlds, particularly where printed and digital subscription is equal to the price of a digital only subscription.

Newspapers in school libraries

I'll admit that reading the newspaper is part of a daily routine for me at the start of the day. This is the same as those who need a coffee to start the day and something I could easily go on and on with

There has been so much discussion within the media itself about the role of newspapers in society. The rise of the internet has cut the cost of publishing news down to zero. Online news sites can cater to specific audiences or topics. News can be relayed through television, radio and the internet as soon as it happens. Competition is tougher than ever.

Printing a newspaper has never been cheap either. It's the advertising and classified sections that has kept the cover prices down for decades. With revenue falling, cover prices have had to rise. Back in Year 10 (2001), newspapers cost around half the price they are now.

More and more, people question the need to read (or buy) a newspaper. This question also comes up with School Libraries. For newspapers like The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian they no longer offer heavily discounted subscriptions to schools, not even to students themselves. Merely, they have given up on trying to recruit new readers. As they say, "get em when they're young". That message is gone.

There are digital subscriptions available for The Sydney Morning Herald that allow access to digital replicas of the days paper and archived papers (from 2006 onwards) but they are not necessarily cheap.

I have found in many instances, students barely touch the newspapers in the libraries that have them, Schools have stopped providing newspapers altogether. So what is the problem even though this saves the student from going out and buying their own copy?

I feel that students are probably not aware that they are available in the first place. They don't know that the library provides them. At one school we encountered this by promoting their availability in print and electronic form especially The Sydney Morning Herald. Alot of subjects still require students to collect a portfolio of newspaper articles especially at HSC level. I even tutored one student in how to access it online and this was only after I told them that it was available. Make sure its reported in your library feature in the school newsletter. I should challenge myself at any school to promote periodicals including its relevance to learning,

The other big issue is that young people can have a mindset that the web is the "be all and end all" for news but this isn't good for learning. As a Teacher Librarian, I have to educate students on the need to use a variety of sources in their learning. Newspapers are invaluable in providing material to support student learning. I think newspaper websites leave out alot of the smaller articles that might be embedded say 12 pages in on the top right corner of the page.

Schools now have photocopying systems that have free scanning to the persons email address. Again, us library staff forget to remind our students that such a service is available. No pages need to be cut out at all and the student can always print the clipping out if they need to.

I have been impressed how teachers at some schools rely on the newspapers to aid their classroom teaching and learning especially where the articles will relate right back to what they are learning. Newspapers can make the learning more relevant because the link to the real world is established.