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I have used the National Library’s microfilm collection a few times. They have issues going back to to the beginning of the Straits Times.
If you are searching for an article with microfilm, you have to know roughly when the article was published. The microfilms have a number of issues on each reel. You load it onto a special projector, then start scrolling through the film to find what you are looking for.
It’s manual and tedious – though strangely enjoyable, like a treasure hunt – but if you have absolutely no idea when an certain article was published, then you’re stuck. At very least, you need to know the month and the year.
So, I want to thank the National Library Board for coming up with http://newspapers.nl.sg/. (Thanks, Ai Lin, for pointing this out!)
NLB has scanned its Straits Times microfilms, so now the text is searchable. No more wading through rolls of microfilm. And you can discover other articles related to your search which you might not have been aware of.
If you search from home, you get article titles and short abstracts. The microfilm reel number is listed too.
You can only access full text and get prints if you’re at the library using one of their multimedia terminals. Or, since you now know the microfilm number, you can zoom in to the article faster. At least you know which reel it’s on! You still have to scroll through the film to get to a particular article. No shortcuts there.
It’s an amazing resource!
Will have to try “Malay Regiment” and “Battle of Pasir Panjang”. Already saw some interesting abstracts…
Microball by Serenity Nichols Ibsen
reproduced under a CC-BY-NC 2.0 license
Otterman
/ Tuesday, 17 March 2009The Straits Times, 10 October 1952, Page 10
ROYAL VISIT INSPIRATION, SAYS TEMPLER KUALA LUMPUR, Thursday. r[E visit of the Duchess of Kent and her son, “at a time when we are bending our energies towards the defeat of the Communist terrorists, has come as an inspiration to us all,” the High Commissioner. Gen. Sir Gerald Templer, said…
Word Count: 423 Estimated OCR Accuracy: 93.96%
Full article available on microfilm reel NL2632
Yeah we gonna have fun with this, might be nice for the Pasir Panjang Guides to do this at NLB together one Saturday.
acroamatic
/ Tuesday, 17 March 2009That sounds like a great idea!
John Larkin
/ Wednesday, 18 March 2009This is quite a useful resource. They may need to do a little work on the drop down menu interface. The years scrolled down forever in safari at least. Cheers, John.
Ivan Chew
/ Sunday, 22 March 2009You know, you ought to thank SPH for this too
acroamatic
/ Tuesday, 24 March 2009@John Larkin Ah, I wasn’t aware ‘cos I didn’t use the drop down menu. Plus I don’t use Safari either.
@Ivan Chew I will… when they stop hoarding everything after 1982!
Laokokok
/ Tuesday, 28 April 2009Thanks for the info. At least the searching is made much easier. Hopefully the content or article can be view thru pc in future, and no need to go to library.
acroamatic
/ Tuesday, 28 April 2009No worries, LKK. I don’t think they will allow access from home for copyright reasons.