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

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.

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!!!