Local History Online @ Your Library

Want to see some nice photos of western Mass. "back in the day"? Check out Digital Commonwealth, a free search engine & repository of manuscripts, images, historical documents, and sound recordings from over 100 Mass. instutitions, including CWMars, UMass, and Simmons College.

How about this photo of the A&P in Holyoke, c1931?


Governor Calvin Coolidge and his son Calvin Coolidge, Jr. building a Kart at their home at 21 Massasoit Street, Northampton, MA. July 1920.


And this Biology Lab at the College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, c1920s.


All of these and more, for free @ your library.

Finding Information About Prospective Employers

A friend and I were discussing the process of looking for work, and stressing to each other the value of doing research on prospective employers. She talked about looking at the employer's web site, for instance, to find statistics to incorporate into your cover letter ("I see that your school has very low graduation rates compared to the state average; I could help you with that by doing XYZ").

Did you know ... you can also look in the local newspaper's archive to find out information about prospective employers (if you're lucky enough to live in an area where your local paper's archives are online).

If you have a library card in western Mass., you can search the archives of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican:

1. Go to the Springfield Republican via Newsbank. Type in your library card number. Click on the logo for the "Union-News" (the paper's former name) or click on the button that says [The Republican (Springfield)]

2. Type whatever you want in the search box & click [SEARCH]. The archives go back to 1988 and just about everything from the paper is in there, including newspaper stories, book reviews, composition of the local school committee, sports stories...

The only limit to what you can find is your imagination! Look for yourself or your spouse; find out what your neighbor's house sold for; find out when that restaurant is opening in Williamsburg; check the safety of local bridges ... and so much more!


Here are some search suggestions and tips:

1. Put phrases in quotes, such as "Hampshire College" or "department of public works." Names can be tricker, because the paper's policy is to include middle initials whenever possible. To make sure you get all stories about Holyoke's "Mayor Mike", search for ("Michael J. Sullivan" or "Michael Sullivan") and mayor and holyoke. That'll get thousands of stories, most of which will mention Holyoke's mayor.

2. The default sort order of results is by date, with the most recent appearing first. This is ok if you're looking for recent news or if there isn't a lot about your topic.

You can change the sort order by clicking on the pull-down menu under the search box & selecting "Best matches first" to get the most relevant stories first (the way Google results appear).

You can also limit stories to those published in the last 12 months, in 2007, 2006, 2005, etc., or your can type in custom dates like Jan 1, 2000 - Feb 3, 2000.

3. Your results will first show the paper name (Republican or Sunday Republican), the date, and the article length, which gives you a sense of how detailed the article will be. Then you'll see the article's title -- click on that to get the full-text -- followed by the "lead" or first paragraph of the article.

To find out about your prospective employer, type in the company name in the search box. You may need to try some variations, such as MassMutual or "Massachusetts Mutual." In the case of a large employer, you might want to add a department to narrow your results, or even search for the hiring manager or person with whom you have an interview.

Successful job hunting @ your library!

Job Hunting Assistance ... Online! ... Free!

Did you know that you can get resume and cover letter assistance online, for free? Western Mass. library-card holders can access "electronic books" via netLibrary.

I found 35 books about "resumes - employment" in netLibrary. They include

• The Resume Kit, by Richard H. Beatty (Wiley, c2000)


• High Impact resumes and Letters by Ronald Krannich (Impact Publications, c1998)


• 201 Winning Cover Letters For $100,000+ Jobs Cover Letters That Can Change Your Life!, by Wendy S. Enelow (Impact Publications, c1998)

And once you get an interview, take a look at The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Interview, by by Marc Dorio (Alpha Books, c2000)!

all free, @ your library

Fodor's Guides -- online! free! (@ your library)

If you live in Massachusetts or Connecticut (and many other states), you have access to hundreds of free online Fodor's Travel Guides. Yay!

Here's how to get there:
1. In Massachusetts, go to http://mblc.state.ma.us/books/magazine/gale.php & type in your library card number
2. At the next screen, click on the OneFile logo
3. At the next screen, you'll see a search box
4. Type in the name of a place you're going or would like to go ... say, Amsterdam
5. You'll see thousands of results!
6. Click on the tab at the top of the list
7. For Amsterdam, "Fodor's Amsterdam" is the 2d result
8. Click on the title, and there you are -- a 140 page guide to Amsterdam. Free!

@ your library.

Video & Audio for Learning

A friend highly recommends the Teaching Company video & audio files for learning new things.

She has listened to tapes on Science & Religion which were interesting & informative & accurate.

I searched the wmrls catalog for material produced by the Teaching Company and was thrilled to see almost 300 entries!

These include a six-video collection entitled Algebra 1 & 2 ; you can borrow both the video and a two-part course guide.

There's also a CD (or video) called The American Mind, by Gettysburg College professor Allen C. Guelzo, which offers "A broad survey of American intellectual history ; a history of the ideas, the thinkers and the institutions that have mattered most to Americans" in 18 CDs + 3 course guidebooks.

Or you could listen to 8 lectures delivered by Professor Robert Greenberg, San Francisco Conservatory of Music. This one is about Mozart, but there are several in the series entitled Great Masters / [musician], His Life & Music. Most are on CD, but some are available on video as well.

I'm sure you could find even more @ your library!

Searching for Books in W Mass Libraries

Here's how to find books, CDs, tapes, DVDs, etc. in western Mass. libraries. Not only can you find the books, you can easily request items from another library in western Mass. & have it delivered to the library of your choosing. All you need is a public library card. It's very simple!

To search the library catalog for all western Mass. libraries (sometimes known as C/W Mars), go to your library web site & find the link, or go directly to http://wmars.cwmars.org/search~/.

From here, you can search by title, author, or keyword. A keyword search lets you search by any words that appear in the title, author, subject heading, or most other fields in the book / CD / tape’s catalog entry. Kind of like Google.

At the keyword search screen, you can also search by “material type”, which is library-language used to distinguish a printed book from an audio book (and to sub-distinguish between a book on tape vs a book on CD). Using this box, you can also search for music on CD or music on tape, or videotapes, or DVDs, or even large print books. You have to enter a word in the search box as well.

For example, you could search for “bluegrass” in the keyword box and “material type” = “music(tape)” to find 9 cassette tapes of bluegrass music. These 9 tapes are housed in various libraries around the area – Belchertown, Springfield, Williamsburg, for instance.

To find out more about it, click on the title of the cassette, book, DVD, etc. that you want. You’ll see what we librarians call the “full record”, which includes the author, title, location of the book, some notes about it (maybe), and the subject headings.

If you want to borrow one (and you have a library card), simply click on the orange button at the top left of the “full record” screen. Type in your library card number and your PIN (you can leave this blank if you don’t have one).

Here’s the fun part: select a pickup location. They will deliver the item you want to ANY library in western Mass – so you can select your “home” library, a library near where you work, or one that you drive by on your way home. They’ll send you an email or give you a call when the item is ready, and all you have to do is go to that library & request your book, tape, etc.

I use this A LOT and love it. Hope you do too!