Yearly Archives: 2015

Using Google to Find Obituaries

A recurring request at our reference desk is for help finding an obituary. As far as I can tell, Newspaper Source Plus, which is made available through the Power Library, provides full-text access to over 1,200 newspapers, including the Post-Gazette, but it doesn’t include obituaries.

However, Google News provides access to nine different scanned Pittsburgh newspapers, including the Pittsburgh Press (1819-1992) and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (1916-2007).

To access Google’s scanned newspapers, type this phrase in the Google search box: “site:google.com/newspapers “, followed by keywords, such as “wozniak obituary pittsburgh”.

If the patron knows the approximate date of the obituary, you can also access all of the scanned newspapers at this site: https://news.google.com/newspapers.

screenshot of Google News listing of Pittsburgh newspapers
Listing of Pittsburgh papers in Google News

Once you click on a newspaper title, you can begin browsing by year, month, or day. However, you can’t search once you are in the scanned papers.

image of scanned newspapers

There are occasional missing issues, and some illegible copies, but this is still a handy tool.

Newspaper Source Plus is updated daily, so is very up-to-date, but doesn’t include obituaries or illustrations.

What tips do you have for helping patrons find obituaries?

Mary Lee (Northland)

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Sounds of the Season

It’s that time of year again. Pumpkin spice lattes make way for peppermint mochas. Leaves riot all over the sidewalk, bright carpets of scarlet and gold. The nights grow long and dark. But most of all, as sure as Thanksgiving follows Halloween, it’s time for your early birdie patrons to check out all the holiday music on your shelves, leaving you in the lurch when everybody else is ready to start rocking around the Christmas tree.

Time to go digital!

Still from A Charlie Brown Christmas, copyright Charles Schultz/United Features Syndicated 1965.
Still from A Charlie Brown Christmas, copyright Charles Schultz/United Features Syndicated 1965.

Freegal and Hoopla are your best bets for sing-along holiday cheer. Here are a few search tips and content examples.

freegalmusic

  • For a broad search, select “genre” from the top bar, then “holiday” from the genre sidebar on the results page.
  • To narrow it down a bit, try keyword searches for terms like “Christmas,” “holiday,” “klezmer,” etc. in the search box. Make sure your drop-down menu is set to either “Albums” or “Songs” for best results.
  • You can also choose “Advanced Search” at the top of the page, set the genre to “Holiday,” and use “Search All” as your default. This search gives the most visually friendly layout, and easiest results browsing.

Some cool finds:

  • Let’s Celebrate Kwanzaa, Peter Pan Kids
  • Christmas Music by Dogs and Cats, The Christmas Critters
  • Jazz Music for Thanksgiving Dinner, Disembogue Records

Hoopla100

  • Hoopla’s search interface is easier to navigate, but less precise.
  • A keyword search for “Christmas” will bring up a wealth of titles.
  • Filter by “music,” then select any title.
  • Each title has suggested tags for “similar items.” Selecting these will take you to comprehensive lists of “holiday titles,” “Christmas titles,” etc

More interesting results:

  • Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever
  • The Karaoke Channel: It’s Thanksgiving!
  • The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer Nutcracker for Chanukah

Although it’s fun to point out novelties and curiosities, rest assured there’s a wide variety of music, from the fun and lighthearted to the sober and tasteful, for everyone to stream or download. Take a few minutes to explore on your own, and report back on what you find in the comments section.

Leigh Anne

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Main

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(More) Disney Products are now available on hoopla

According to a news release from hoopla, “All your Disney friends, all the characters you’ve come to know and love, are now here as eBooks on hoopla… New Disney classics, like Frozen, Toy Story, Star Wars and more, come to life like never before with hoopla!” 

Readers can choose from titles that feature current characters like    

or

or re-visit old favorites like
 
and

For more information, Simply click here to see what Disney and hoopla have in store for you!

Lisa
CLP
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SelectReads, AuthorCheck, & New Book Alerts – a Reader’s Advisory Trifecta!

SelectReads along with its two companion services, AuthorCheck and New Book Alerts, are now live throughout the county. These services have the potential of being invaluable tools to the reference librarian, as well as being user-friendly and customizable enough for the novice customer. Here are just a few ways you can choose to use these services:
1. Add a Book Widget to your library home page.
A variety of carousels, side-scrollers, and banners are available to showcase new books. These can be added to any page on your library’s website, with links to the catalog and weekly updates already built in. A list of these with their corresponding codes was created, including Adult Fiction, Teen Fiction, Children’s Books, and New York Times Bestsellers. Other options are available on request.
2. Keep up with EVERY new book James Patterson publishes…
AuthorCheck allows you to search for a particular author’s bibliography, but even more useful may be the ability to then “follow” that author to keep up to date with their newest releases. Because sometimes it’s just hard to keep up with an author that cranks out a book a week.
3. Be first in line for Ant-Man on DVD.
New Book Alerts gives you a list of the newest releases in a variety of categories, including the sometimes more difficult types to search in the catalog – Multimedia. You can visit the website yourself or have it email you a list every week, and have your friends wonder how you’re always the first in line for new releases. Who needs Redbox?
Heather, Western Allegheny Community Library
Continue ReadingSelectReads, AuthorCheck, & New Book Alerts – a Reader’s Advisory Trifecta!