For Secondary Students
Was the last time you visited a Library a blurred memory involving clapping, puppets and craft?
Perhaps its time to reintroduce yourself to the State Library of Western Australia!
What's New at SLWA in 2009?
Its time for the State Library to finally burst into the 21st C with a serious make over! We're transmogrifying over the next few months from ugly paperback duckling to digital high-res butterfly.
In a Genetically modified nutshell;
- Installation of the ST200X microform scanner printers. What?!? These machines can do almost anything except make your breakfast!
- Complete overhaul of the ground floor to make room for the new Discovery Lounge and Exhibition space for displaying some of our
rarely seen goodies. - Creation of The Place for the not so serious library users on the Mezzanine.
- Digitise digitise and digitise some more. Everything from oral histories through to ticket stubs and century old diaries is up for grabs.
Where are we?
Perth city, near the central train station between the Museum and Art Gallery.
Check us out on Google maps!
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Alexander+Library&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=34.69083,48.076172&ie=UTF8&ll=-31.947975,115.861505&spn=0.003805,0.005869&t=h&z=17&iwloc=A
Luscious Links (;
- Can't Find Anything! Top tips for getting the best search results
- Peculiar Point. Focus on a peculiar area of library land
- Snippets from the collection. Monthly spotlight on some unsung heros from the depths of the stacks (opens a new page)
I Can't find anything!
Top 10 tips for getting useful search results!
Write as many words down that relate to your topic or question. Think laterally. Use the thesaurus to get synonyms (words with similar meanings).
Handy Tip Open a Microsoft word document and type a keyword in Eg. 'homework' , use the cursor to highlight the word, then press the 'Shift + F7' keys.
Use quotation marks " " to keep search terms together. For example " Gold mining" will only find information where the words 'gold' and 'mining' are together.
Unsure of spelling, or wanting to expand your search results? Use the * Asterix to truncate your word! For example cens* will find all words starting with the letters 'cens' including censer, censor, censured.
Do you need to restrict your search within Australia only OR should you do a world wide web search?
Using NOT in your search box eliminates results that you don't want. For example gold mining NOT jewellery.
Who do you think would publish or create the information you are looking for? Federal or State Government?, organisation (sports, law), newspaper article or journal?
Use the subject headings from the library catalogue to expand your search, or find topics that might relate to what you are looking for.
Electronic resources offer you a wide range of full text articles, images, journals and maps on-line. This information isn't freely available on the web, however it can be accessed from home using your public library card.
Australia's National, State and Territory libraries have joined together to provide this online reference service. Available Monday to Friday from 7.00am to 5.00pm WST.
Visit your local library or come into the State Library. Don't forget to bring all your research.
Peculiar Point: Lux
What is a Lux?
One Lux is a Lumen over a square meter and a Lumen is the luminous flux of a light source that is giving off a luminous intensity of one Candela in one direction. A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one Candela.
So very basically: one Lux is the light of a candle in one direction over one square meter.
50 Lux is recommended light levels of light sensitive materials. It was chosen because it was thought to be the lowest light level that a normal person could comfortably see an object.
Lux hours and Lux light, what's the difference?
In conservation we like to think of 'Lux hours' not just light levels. We consider how many hours the object has been exposed to that particular light level. We multiply the Lux levels by the number of hours the item is on display. With institutions which are display orientated, they usually limit the number of Lux hours that the items can be displayed so that item may be shown for shorter or longer periods depending on the light levels selected i.e. Lower light levels = longer display period and vice versa.
Thanks to Jonathan Schmidt (State Library, Paper Conservator) for this Peculiar Point.
Page last updated: 29/09/2009 11:14:32