The National Geographic for Kids database (NEW)

Photo: A young Nenets boy stands in the sub-zero cold near his home in the Siberian Arctic, Russia. (Steve Raymer/National Geographic Stock)

The award-winning National Geographic for Kids database is now available 24/7 from Hurstville City Library's website. A great resource for homework and school projects with information on a wide range range of subject areas including: Animals, the Environment, History, Peoples and Cultures, Place, Science and Technology.

Did you know, for example, that:
* About 12,000 years ago, the Sahara was covered with millions of trees;
* Hurricanes north of the Equator spin in the opposite direction to those south of the Equator;
* The earth rotates on its axis faster than a pistol's speeding bullet. (1)

The National Geographic for Kids makes learning fun, with online eMagazines, eBooks, photos, videos and games that include action adventures, puzzles and quizzes. Login with your library card's barcode and help your child access a world of amazing information.

Reference
Petit, Zachary. "30 Cool Things About The World." National Geographic Kids May 2013: 24. National Geographic Kids. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

Are Australians being ripped-off with IT goods?

Photograph: Choice Online. Retrieved 7th August, 2013.

According to a recent Choice article, Australians are paying 50% more for computers, software, games and music. Choice's in-depth analysis reveals that Australians are paying on average 50% more for PC games, 34% more for software, 51% more for iTunes music, 88% more for Wii games and 41% more for computer hardware than our US counterparts.
One software package in particular, the Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate (with MSDN), was $8, 665.29 more expensive in Australia. Choice notes that 'for this amount, it would be cheaper to employ someone for 46 hours at the price of $21.30 an hour and fly them to the US and back at your expense. Twice'.
Federal Labor politicians are seeking an enquiry into why Australian consumers are paying so much more than overseas consumers, for identical products.To read more about this and to discover ways in which you can try to circumvent these outrageous price differences, ask staff at Hurstville City Library to log you in to Choice Online for the full free article.

National History Month - August 2013

Celebrate National Family History Month with Hurstville City Library's free family history resources. Explore Ancestry.com, the world's largest genealogy database, with over 10 billion historical records from the UK, Australia/NZ, North America and some European countries or browse numerous birth/death/marriage indexes, parish records, military records, migration records, electoral rolls and more, from the Find my Past collection (UK/Ireland/Australia), just by logging in with your library card on Hurstville City Library's computers. If you're particularly interested in records from NSW, try the Internet History Resources database, which contains over 30,000 pages of online records related to family history in NSW.

Hurstville City Library is also pleased to announce that the latest edition of the eMagazine Inside History, can be downloaded free from our new Zinio eMagazine collection. Inside History is a great resource for the family history enthusiast, with advice, articles and expert tips on genealogy.Look out for The [online]Sydney Morning Herald Archives 1955-1995 and The [online]Sydney Morning Herald 1996 onwards databases, which are coming soon to Hurstville Library.

'Pretty in Pink' Dolphins are an Endangered Species

Source: Warren, S 2013, 'Protecting Dolphins Pink', Scholastic Superscience, 24, 7, pp. 4-7, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, viewed 18 May 2013.

Many people don't know that Amazon dolphins are born grey, but as they age, they turn pink. According to Warren (2013, p.5), some dolphins are as bright as pink bubble gum.

It is estimated that river dolphins have existed in the Amazon for 30 million years (Warren, 2013, p.5). These dolphins, called botos in South America, can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh 400 lbs (Warren, 2013, p.6). Traditionally, people have believed that botos can come out of the water, transform into humans, and even sneak into parties!(Warren, 2013, p.6)

These amazing dolphins are now under the threat of extinction, as fishermen have been killing them and using the meat as bait to catch a certain type of catfish (Warren, 2013, p.6). Even fishermen that don't use the botos as bait have been slaughtering them, so that the dolphins don't eat the fish that they are trying to catch (Warren, 2013, p.6).

To read more about the botos and the efforts of scientists in trying to preserve this species, login to EBSCOhost's Australian and New Zealand Reference Centre with your library card's barcode.

Rayyan

Reference
Warren, S 2013, 'Protecting Dolphins Pink', Scholastic Superscience, 24, 7, pp. 4-7, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 May 2013.


.

Can People Change?

Can people change or are some parts of us ‘set in stone’?

‘He’ll never learn’, ‘she always was a bad kid’, and ‘once a cheater, always a cheater’ all reflect a common belief: people never really change. While there may be a kernel of truth in this folk wisdom, it doesn't square with recent research. [i]

Studies have in fact demonstrated that meditation, exercise, quitting drugs and starting antidepressant treatments can alter the brain, leading to ‘structural and functional changes in the brain that correspond to changes in personality and behavior’. [ii]

To read this article in Psychology Today (or other issues of Psychology Today) login to the Academic Research Library (Proquest) from home or in the library, with your library card’s barcode.

Rayyan.

---

[i] Old dogs, new tricks. (2013), Psychology Today, 46, 22-23. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1271926556?accountid=49617

[ii] Ibid.

School Tragedy Reignites Debate over Gun Control in the United States

Source: ZORNICK, G 2013, 'Walmart: America's No. 1 Gun Source', Nation, 296, 1/2, pp. 15-20, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 February 2013.

Imagine walking into a retail chain store such as K-mart and being able to purchase a semiautomatic assault weapon. In Australia, we cannot do this, but in the United States, the retail chain store Walmart, is now the biggest seller of firearms and ammunition in the United States.¹

In the wake of the tragic school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012, the issue of gun control is once more under debate in the United States. The US has the highest ranking of guns per capita, with an estimated 310 million firearms in US civilian circulation.² The percentage of US households with a gun in January 2013 was 49%.³

The fallout from the proliferation of these weapons is apparent - there were over 32,163 gun-related deaths (includes murder, suicide and other) in the US in 2011.⁴ While there is increased public support for new weapons regulation, there is also staunch opposition to gun control, in particular, from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA).⁵

To read more about this important issue, login to Ebsco’s Australian/New Zealand Reference Centre, from home or in the library, with your library card’s barcode.

Rayyan

References
 1 ZORNICK, G 2013, 'Walmart: America's No. 1 Gun Source', Nation, 296, 1/2, pp. 15-20, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 February 2013.

2 SCHERED, M 2013, 'THE NEXT GUN FIGHT. (cover story)', Time, 181, 3, pp. 24-33, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 February 2013.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

Interested in finding out more about the 'God particle'?

Photo: Model of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) taken by Johannes Simon/2008 Getty Images (Ebsco Image Collection)

Physicists have for decades been looking for the elusive Higgs Bosun particle (aka the ‘God particle’). Scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) have recently  discovered a new particle  that they believe is consistent with Higgs Bosun, which is thought to be responsible for the presence of mass in the universe. This discovery will contribute not only to our understanding of atoms, but will contribute to our understanding of the universe itself. The experiments which have led to this amazing scientific break-through, took place at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the world's biggest and most powerful particle accelerator, which is located on the French-Swiss border. To read more about the 'God particle', login to the Ebsco Science Reference Centre    either from home or in the library, using your library card’s barcode.  

Rayyan                                                                                                                                              

Julian Assange: Ecuador-bound?

Source: Scarff, O. (2010). Julian Assange [Photograph]. Retrieved 31 August, 2012, from Ebsco Image Collection.

Julian Assange, the WikilLeaks founder who was responsible for the biggest leak of secret government documents in history, has been offered diplomatic asylum in Ecuador. Although this is a tremendous moral boost for Assange and his supporters, it does not appear that Assange will be able to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.

Assange, who has been living inside an office at Eucador's embassy for the past two months, believes that if he is extradited to Sweden, he will face a further extradition to the United States, where he might face trial for WikiLeaks-related charges.

Read more about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks in the ANZ Newstand (Proquest) and the ANZ Reference Centre (Ebsco). The latter database contains a fascinating interview with Assange, conducted by Jamie Kelsey-Fry (see reference below), which discusses the power of state intelligence agencies, the criteria that WikiLeaks used to decide what to publish and the intense media scrutiny on Assange's personal life.

Reference

Kelsey-Fry, Jamie. 2012. "Julian Assange." New Internationalist no. 452: 62. Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost (accessed August 24, 2012).

Rayyan

Bookan Chinese eMagazines

好市围图书馆的会员们现在可以透过博看电子中文期刊资料库 - 世界上最大的中文杂志资料库，来阅读到超过2,500种中文杂志。杂志种类多样，从政治、财经和科学，以至健康、文学和娱乐都有，全部向图书馆会员们免费提供。在家或在图书馆内，都可以凭借书证上的电脑条码登陆博看网.

Should Simpson be Awarded a V.C. Posthumously? Find out more with ANZ Reference Centre Database

Most Australians know of the iconic ANZAC story of 'Simpson and his donkey'. John Simpson Kirkpatrick was 22 years old when he landed at ANZAC Cove on the 25th April, 1915. Simpson, a stretcher bearer, used a donkey to transport over 300 wounded soldiers from the battlefield at Gallipoli Heights down to the beach for evacuation. Just over three weeks later, Simpson was killed by a shrapnel wound to his heart.

Simpson's donkey was awarded a Purple Cross - the highest award for an animal, but ironically, Simpson was not awarded a Victoria Cross posthumously for his bravery. Simpson has for a long time been a central figure in the ANZC legend and controversy now rages over whether Simpson should be awarded a V.C. posthumously. Find out more about this controversy with the ANZ Reference Centre (Ebsco) Database. Rayyan.

Was the Titanic doomed to sink? Find out more with Gale History Resource Centre Database.

This week marks the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The Titanic sank at 2.20 a.m. on the 15th April, 2012. 1,514 of the 2,22o passengers perished in the early hours of the morning.

Recent research indicates that even if the 'unsinkable' Titanic had not struck an iceberg on that fateful morning, it still would have been doomed to sink. Experts studying previously undiscovered portions of the keel found structural flaws, which they concluded would have made the Titanic vulnerable in the event of rough seas.

Want to find out more? Log into the History Resource Centre Database (Gale) from home or in the library, by using the barcode number of your library card. Rayyan.

Source Citation:

"Not unsinkable." History Today 57.8 (2007): 8. Gale World History In Context. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.

Building or Renovating?

Hurstville Library subscribes to the Building Code of Australia Online. This online resource can be accessed for free at Hurstville and Penshurst Libraries. The Building Code of Australia Online is developed, published and maintained by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB).

What does it cover?
BCA Online contains technical provisions for the design and construction of buildings and other structures covering such matters as structure, fire resistance, access and egress, services and equipment and certain aspects of health and amenity. It includes Volumes 1 & 2 of the Code, Guide, standards referenced in the BCA, BCA versions dating back to 1988 and ABRD Newsletters. The Guide is a companion manual to the BCA and is intended for people seeking clarification, illustrations, and examples of complex BCA provisions.

How do I access this resource?
A User Id and password is required from library staff to access BCA Online in the library.

For more information please see staff at the Hurstville City Library Information Desk or phone 9330 6142.

Discover our Databases

Looking for information? Searching the Internet? How do you know if the information is accurate, trustworthy and up to date? There is another option…

Hurstville Library subscribes to a wide range of databases that cover health, business, family history, literature, science, consumer & current issues and much more...

All of our databases can be accessed for free if you are a library member. Not a member, start the join up process online at the Hurstville Library, Museum & Gallery website or visit Hurstville or Penshurst library to join .

How do you access the databases?

Go to the Hurstville LMG website Under Find Information click on Research Databases and select the databases you are interested in by subject or from an alphabetical listing. Many of the databases you can access from home. You will just need your library card number X16.....

After selecting the database click on Login from Library or Login from home.

What databases can I access from home or the library?

ANZ Newsstand
Full-text newspapers and newswires from Australia and New Zealand covering regional and international topics.

Bookan Chinese E-magazines NEW!!
The world’s largest Chinese online magazine & newspaper website.

Consumer Health Complete
Consumer-oriented health content covering all areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated medicine.

Points of View NEW!!
Gain a balanced perspective on current issues with information from a range of viewpoints.

and many more...

What databases can I access when I visit the library?

Ancestry Library
Access to a wide range of unique resources for genealogical and historical research, including census records; military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; passenger lists and more. Start searching your family history today!

Choice Online
Access to articles from Choice – the consumer magazine. Compare products and find independent product reviews. See the library staff to gain access.

And many more...

Looking for Business Information Online?

Company360 database is now available for Hurstville Library members from all the public computers within the library. Not a member? Visit the library and join or start the join up online

Company360 provides in-depth business information and analysis on Australia's leading 50,000 private and public companies including:

• Company financial reports


• Financial ratios and analysis


• Structure and shareholders—including linkage to parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliates


• Board and executive profiles


• Company overviews


• ASX data (listed companies)


• Latest news insight from Australia's leading business journalists—Alan Kohler, Robert Gottliebsen and Stephen Bartholomeusz

To access this database go to the Hurstville City Library,Gallery & Museum homepage & under Find Information click on Research Databases and then Business & Finance

Look down the listing until you find Company360 and click on Login from Library. Take a look now or bookmark for future use !