What's New
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What's New
1st February 2012
Charles Dickens Bicentenary
- 2012 is the Charles Dickens bicentenary year. Dickens was born on 7th February 1812. A new set of Charles Dickens pages gives you an easy way to find many of the best Dickens sites and to discover fascinating information in the Virtual Library's online resources
- You'll find links on Dickens's life and works, images, where to read his works online, places connected with Dickens, events and much more
- There is also a link to an online quiz from Oxford University Press with a fabulous prize, at the first Charles Dickens page
- Did you know that Dickens sat in a very particular way when he wrote? To find out how, and why, follow the link at the first Charles Dickens page
13th January 2012
100th anniversary of Scott reaching the South Pole
- The British expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912
- Discover fascinating resources about Scott's expedition and that of Amundsen at a new page South Pole Expeditions Scott and Amundsen
- It guides you to key web sites for information, including photographs, journals and original newspaper articles
12th December 2011
Archive
local films online free!
- Archive films of Bedfordshire and nearby counties are now online for you to view free, at the new East Anglian Film Archive web site
- The new site provides over 200 hours of digitised rarely seen archive footage of life in East Anglia
- There are films of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire
- You can search for films by dates, places, genres, people, subjects
100th
anniversary of Amundsen reaching the South Pole
- 100 years ago, in December* 1911, the Norwegian Captain Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole
- The centenary of the arrival of the British expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott will be in January 2012
- By logging in to the Times Digital Archive you can read online the 1912 reports in The Times newspaper of Amundsen's arrival at the South Pole, including an extract from his own journal describing the last stage of his journey
- The news reports appeared in newspapers of March 1912, as Amundsen's news was not known until then, when he reached Hobart, Tasmania and sent a telegram to the King of Norway
- Log in to the Times Digital Archive with your library number and PIN. If you are a Virtual Library member you may need to find out how to become eligible to use Times Digital Archive
- Don't have a library card? You can join the library now. Don't have a PIN? You can request a PIN now
- At the Times Digital Archive, enter the search term Amundsen, and choose to limit your search to between 1st March 1912 and 31st March 1912
- You'll see several news items about Amundsen's arrival at the Pole, his return to Hobart and the reactions to his news in Norway and Britain. The item that reproduces Amundsen's journal extract is the one headed 'Captain Amundsen's success'
- You can view images of the expedition and read more about Amundsen at the official Norwegian anniversary web site. The Photo Galleries section includes The 1911 Expedition to the South Pole. Click each image to enlarge it
- (*The BBC web site says that Amundsen reached the South Pole on 15th December and notes that "the date is sometimes given as 14 December - the difference being due to differing interpretations of the international date line". Amundsen's journal records the date as 14th December)
British Library Newspapers Archive
- The British Library has launched a new web site, the British Library Newspapers Archive, with millions of digitised pages of newspapers. It is a completely different site from the British Library's other site British Newspapers 1800-1900
- The new British Library Newspapers Archive has a date range of 1700 - 1949. This first stage of the project focuses mainly on newspapers published before 1900 but more will be added over time
- You can search the database of newspapers free but the site makes a charge to view pages: a 2 day or 30 day credit package or an annual subscription (the web site says there are no plans to introduce subscription packages for libraries)
31st October 2011
Disability access guide
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At Disabled Go! you can find detailed information about the access to all kinds of places, including hotels, restaurants, colleges, tourist attractions, libraries, hospitals, leisure centres. All access information has been collected in person by DisabledGo’s team of surveyors
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DisabledGo also has a job-search section, disability news, events, articles and a discussion forum
New non-emergency telephone number for the police
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People in Bedfordshire now have access to 101, the national non-emergency telephone number for the police service in England and Wales
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Calls to 101 (from both landlines and mobile networks) cost 15 pence per call, no matter what time of day you call, or how long you are on the phone
New online books at Credo Reference
- A big new batch of online books has recently been added to Credo Reference
- To search and browse any of the books below, and hundreds of others, just log in to Credo Reference with your library number and PIN and click the Topic Pages tab
- Don't have a library card? You can join the library now. Don't have a PIN? You can request a PIN now
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New titles added to Credo
Reference |
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New
at Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
- Did you know....the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online includes biographical articles about well-known people and in-depth articles on countries and recent world events, often including animated maps and statistics?
- To see the recent additions listed below and all the rest of the encyclopaedia, just log in here with your library number and PIN. Don't have a library card? You can join the library now. Don't have a PIN? You can request a PIN now
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New and revised biographies at Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Search each name separately |
Updates on countries and events
at Encyclopaedia Britannica Onlin |
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'Aspects of English'
articles in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Online
- In addition to giving you the meaning and history of over half a million words, the OED Online also has some extra features, such as a series of articles on the English language, written by the dictionary's editors and specialist authors. Informative, entertaining articles are added at monthly intervals. Some recent articles are:
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Recent 'Aspects of English' articles |
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Shapers of English: Tania Styles looks at place names in the OED- To view the full OED online, log in with your library number and PIN. Don't have a library card? You can join the library now. Don't have a PIN? You can request a PIN now
Recent
Topic Pages on Credo Reference
- Credo Reference adds new Topic Pages all the time. Some recent examples are:
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Recent Topic Pages |
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- To view the full list of approximately 9,000 Topic Pages, log in to Credo Reference with your library number and PIN and click the Topic Pages tab
- Don't have a library card? You can join the library now. Don't have a PIN? You can request a PIN now
More 'What's new'
- See Earlier what's new for more recent 'What's new' items
- See What's new archive and Inform newsletter archive for older 'What's new' items
WebLinks - What's new
- Click WebLinks and then click 'What's new on the Gateway' to see the many interesting new sites that are constantly being added to 'WebLinks: the Gateway to the Internet'
Page last updated: 1st February 2012
