Entries by category: Projects

With the new school term underway, the State Library of NSW is taking the stress out of assignment time for students and parents by providing free, 24/7 access to amazing online resources that a general internet search won’t find!

“The State Library of NSW is bringing the library to the students, whether that be at home or somewhere else, and connecting them with primary sources and quality information in all school subject areas,” says NSW State Librarian & Chief Executive Alex Byrne.

In fact, every NSW resident with a State Library card, regardless of geographic location, has access to the multitude of resources offered at www.sl.nsw.gov.au/eresources. Membership is free.

“Our eresources cover all areas, including family history research, business, fashion and film, so all NSW residents are sure to discover links related to their own personal interests. Plus, there’s over 2,500 ebooks available free to download,” says Dr Byrne.

See the full media release attached.

CASE STUDY: I was helping my daughter do some research for her Personal Interest Project on ‘Slacktivism’. Before she asked me for help she spent a lot of time looking for articles on Google and came up with odd quotes without any background information which could be referenced. To my surprise I found a number of articles on what I thought to be an invented topic on the State Library of NSW’s eresources web pages. Not only did I find some great articles in full text, but I found one that could be converted to an MP3 file so she could listen to it on her iPod rather than read it. All I did was a simple keyword search. That’s one less headache. Now she just has to write it.

For more information and interviews please contact:
Vanessa Bond, Media & Communications Manager, State Library of NSW
(02) 92731566, 0411 259 898, vbond@sl.nsw.gov.au

The Library’s complete set of The Dawn (1885-1905), Australia’s first feminist newspaper, is now available for everyone to read online. Published by Henry Lawson’s mum Louisa, The Dawn joins online copies of the Australian Women’s Weekly, the Sydney Gazette and 33 other NSW newspapers from the Library’s collection thanks to a successful collaboration with the National Library of Australia.

Access The Dawn via Trove 

Access the State Library’s eresources

See the full media releae attached. 

History will be made next week when Captain Matthew Flinders’ journal of his epic circumnavigation of Australia returns to sea – this time on Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2’s first voyage around the country.

More than 200 years after Flinders’ circumnavigation of Australia, Cunard and the State Library of NSW have announced that key items in the Library’s priceless Flinders collection will be displayed on Queen Mary 2 as the liner departs Sydney on Tuesday (February 14) on her maiden circumnavigation.

Along with Flinders’ handwritten journal and logbook, the liner will also carry an original copy of Flinders’ map of Australia, first published in 1814, which represents his life’s work.

Queen Mary 2’s 22-day round trip from Sydney will take the journal on its first circumnavigation of Australia since the navigator made daily entries in it during his voyage of discovery in 1801-03 in his ship HMS Investigator.

Flinders, who gave Australia its name, died in 1814 at the age of 40.  He is credited with producing the first map of Australia, achieving a level of accuracy that still amazes modern mariners.  

Peter Shanks, President and Managing Director of Cunard, said it was wonderful that Queen Mary 2 could carry items of such symbolic and emotional significance to Australians on her voyage.

"Cunard is a cruise line steeped in history and tradition so we are very grateful to the State Library of NSW for entrusting us with such priceless items of Australian and British heritage for Queen Mary 2’s historic first circumnavigation of Australia,” Mr Shanks said.

"Queen Mary 2 is making her voyage around Australia in a vastly different era to that of Matthew Flinders, but that only adds to the continuing interest in his remarkable achievements using what we would now regard as the most primitive navigational and seafaring methods.”

State Library senior curator and Flinders expert Paul Brunton said the Library saw the partnership as a fantastic opportunity to highlight the amazing achievements of the man who literally put Australia on the map.
 
“Flinders would be gob-smacked to learn that his logbook and journal was to be part of a second circumnavigation of Australia,” Mr Brunton said.
 
Mr Brunton will provide regular lectures to guests onboard Queen Mary 2, revealing the drama, tragedy, romance and achievements, which are captured in detail in his logbook and journal.

Carrying around 2600 guests, Queen Mary 2 will arrive into Sydney around 6.30am on Tuesday, berthing at Garden Island Naval Base.  She will depart later that day to sail to Brisbane for her maiden visit to the Queensland capital.

Queen Mary 2’s maiden circumnavigation of Australia represents the first time the liner has been based outside her Northern Hemisphere homeports of Southampton and New York.

For more information contact:
David Jones, Corporate Communications Manager, Carnival Australia
(02) 8424 8995,  0401 081 898, david.jones@carnivalaustralia.com 
Vanessa Bond, Manager, Media & Communications, State Library of NSW
(02) 9273 1556, 0411 259 898, vbond@sl.nsw.gov.au