Month before the HSC

The library's HSC programme has a variety of free lectures and workshops that take place throughout the year.

Our next talk Month before the HSC is presented by Rowan Kunz, the CEO of Smart Education who was extremely successful in his own HSC and was named one of Australia's 'Top 30 under 30 Entrepreneurs'.

This is a free workshop that will be held at HJ Daley Library on Wednesday 24 August from 5.30pm – 7.00pm.

Issues in Society

The library receives a subscription of Issues in Society for each branch. There is a copy in the HSC collection for loan and at H J Daley Library we also have a copy in Reference so that one is always available to you.

Each book in the series has fantastic up to date information, facts and statistics from a huge range of primary and secondary sources.

Spinney Press is the publisher of these titles, on the companies website they say, "Information in each 'Issues in Society' title is carefully selected to ensure that it is current, unbiased and balanced. Many titles cover a range of opinions on controversial topics, providing the perfect platform to provoke debate, stimulate critical analysis and encourage further research."

There is an amazing range of topics with fantastic information for your assignments. Make sure to check out Issues in Society for your next assignment. They can be located in the Reference and HSC collections under the call number 360 ISS.

HSC English Area of Study: Discovery

The library's HSC programme has a variety of free lectures and workshops that take place throughout the year.

Our next talk HSC English Area of Study: Discovery is presented by Larry Grumley who is a HSC exam marker and has been an English teacher for over 25 years.

This is a free session that will be held at Eagle Vale Library on Thursday 23 June from 5.30pm – 7.00pm.

Acing the HSC Trial

The library's HSC programme has a variety of free lectures and workshops that take place throughout the year.

Our next talk Acing the HSC Trial is presented by Rowan Kunz, the CEO of Smart Education who was extremely successful in his own HSC and was named one of Australia's 'Top 30 under 30 Entrepreneurs'.

This is a free session that will be held at HJ Daley Library on Wednesday 16 March from 5.30pm – 7.00pm.

Mungo Man

These footprints of the Willandra people discovered in 2003 are 20,000 years old.

The remains discovered at Lake Mungo in 1974 are possibly the most significant archaeological find in Australian history and are the oldest modern human remains found in Australia to date.  

The discovery revealed one of the world's oldest known cremations. This finding gave support to the theory that complicated burial rituals existed in early human societies. It also proved that Aboriginal people were present in Australia 20,000 years earlier than previously recorded.

There are a few keywords that could help you find information in your search; these include:

•  Mungo
•  Mungo Man
•  Archaeology Australia
•  Willandra Lakes
•  Willandra Archaeology

Try some of the above terms in the library online catalogue; we have some great physical resources on this discovery.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like World Book and Britannica which will also contain some information about the area.

 

Some websites you might find useful

Mungo National Park Website

This website is filled with fantastic information about the park; including the amazing archaeological finds there.

World Heritage Places - Willandra Lakes Region

The Willandra Lakes region is listed as a World HeritageSite. This website contains important information about the region and its history.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

This site has information about Mungo National Park. This includes information about the area, flora and fauna that is found in the area and the numerous ongoing conservation programs taking place in the park.

 

How to help your teen through the HSC

The library's HSC programme has a variety of free lectures and workshops that take place throughout the year.

Our first talk is; How to Help Your Teen through the HSC: a session for parents and carers of Year 11 and 12 students.

This is a free session that will be held at HJ Daley Library on Tuesday 1 March from 6.30pm – 7.30pm.

Hot topics at your library

Hot Topics update

 

 

 

 

LIAC (Legal Information Access Centre) State Library of NSW has recently updated their Hot Topics collection, removing any irrelevant copies and retaining current easy-to-read topics.

Fourteen topics are available in print at each branch (in Reference and HSC collections) as laws are constantly changing and being reviewed, new topics and updated issues will only be available online however ALL issues can be viewed online:
http://www.legalanswers.sl.nsw.gov.au/hot_topics/index.html

Topics covered include Domestic violence, First Australians, Human rights, Voting and elections, Consumer law, Families, International humanitarian law, Australian legal system, Discrimination, Animal law, Consumer credit, International law, Indigenous law, Prisoners, You and your lawyer and Drugs and the law.
 

 

 

Musicians & bands

Fuel was scarce in France during World War I. You had to be very rich to obtain coal to heat your home. Debussy, offered to pay his coal merchant with an original composition. The merchant went home with Debussy’s last composition, appropriately named “Evenings Lighted by Burning Coals.”

When you are asked to do an assignment on a musician or band there are years and years of musical history you could choose an artist from. Do exercise caution whilst researching because there will be a lot of misleading information out there.

When searching, a good place to start would be to use the artist or band name you have chosen.

When looking at books avoid any titles with the words “unauthorized” or “unofficial” in the title, the facts in titles like these have not necessarily been checked thoroughly.

If you are looking at online material look for biographies on the official artist page. Do not trust information that is not from reliable sources and certainly do not look at magazine or newspaper articles.

If the artist you are researching is older and therefore does not have an ‘official’ website, for example French composer Claude Debussy, you could look him up in an encyclopaedia like Britannica or World Book.

If you are looking at online sites that look like legitimate biography websites make sure to check who created the website. There are some websites out there that advertise as biography sites, but are created by magazines or television networks. Instead try the library’s Reference Databases Biography in Context.

Art – Painting & Painters

Fun fact: 'Le Bateau' by Henri Matisse hung upside-down for 47 days in the Museum of Modern Art in New York until a patron realised the mistake.

 

The art of painting goes back thousands and thousands of years which is why this topic area is so vast.

Your first step is to have a look at what your question is asking for. Once you have figured out what the question is asking you about painting you will be able to put together some search terms. See below for some suggestions you could start with.

If you are being asked about painting mediums you could try words such as watercolour, oil, spray paint and acrylic. If the question is about syles of painting you should consider keywords like surrealism, impressionism and abstract.

You could also be asked about the history of painting or painters of a specific region or country. For that kind of question I would recommend using keyword combinations like ‘Painting Africa’ (you could also add in the word ‘history’).

If you are looking for information on a specific painter/artist I would recommend searching using their name, an example would be ‘Leonardo da Vinci’. If you want to know about a specific painting again I would recommend starting by using the name of the art like ‘Mona Lisa’. Also consider that there might me alternative terms you could use, for example whilst ‘Mona Lisa’ is the most commonly used spelling for this artwork you might also find some information under the spelling ‘Monna Lisa’.

Try some of the above terms in the library online catalogue; we have some great information on art, particularly in our reference section.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like World Book and Britannica. These resources will be great for collection information.

The library’s Reference Databases webpage has some great databases you could search in too. A good one for finding information on artists is Biography in Context.

Some websites you might find useful

Encyclopedia  of Art 
This website has some really interesting and extensive information that could be useful to you.  

The History of Painting

This page is part of the scholastic website which is great and has a lot of information on the history of painting going back to cave paintings in a number of cultures.  

The Artwolf

This is an online magazine that has some amazing information on artists and pieces of art as well as art history.

World Heritage Sites

Uluru is estimated to be 600 million years old.

A World Heritage Site is a place (such as a building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, or mountain) that has been deemed as being of cultural or historical significance. These sites are examined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and if found suitable are included in the list of World Heritage Sites.

There are a few keywords that could help you find information in your search; these include:
·         World Heritage
·         World Heritage site/s
·         International World Heritage Programme
·         UNESCO

If you want to find information about a specific world heritage site then you should use the name of the site as your search term, also think about alternate names for the site. For example ‘Ayers Rock’ is also known as ‘Uluru’.

Try some of the above terms in the library online catalogue; we have some great physical resource on world heritage sites.

If you go to the Information desk online webpage on the Library website you will see that you have access to encyclopaedias like World Book and Britannica. These resources will have information on world heritage sites.

Some websites you might find useful

UnescoWorld Heritage List
This is the actual World Heritage Site list. If you are in doubt as to whether the area you want to research for your assignment is classified as world heritage you should definitely check out this page. If you then click on the site you are interested in it will provide you with some information on the site.

Australia’s World Heritage – Australian GovernmentDepartment of the Environment

This has some great information specific to Australian heritage sites. The list of Australian sites is here if you click on one of the options it will provide you additional information. The 'Heritage' page is a good resource also.

Australian Geographic World Heritage Sites

This site has some spectacular images of the sites and some good information too. Great for some history and background information.