Fit to search all the news

The first newspaper in the United States was the delightfully named

“Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick,” published in

Boston in 1690.

Unfortunately, only one issue hit the streets. Publisher Benjamin

Harris promised to publish the newspaper “once a month, or, if any

Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener,” but he was shut down by a

disapproving British colonial government.

Fourteen years passed before the first, continuing newspaper was

published in America. It was the “Boston News-Letter.”

Since that first issue was dated “Monday, April 17 to Monday,

April 24,” this might be a good time to talk about the Newport Beach

Public Library and news.

Of course, the library carries newspapers, both local and

out-of-state. In fact, for many with the leisure time, coming to the

library and scanning the dailies is a routine and a real pleasure.

But for most of us, there isn’t time to sit in a comfy chair in a

quiet library and read about what’s happening around the country.

There is a solution to the problem of getting information in this

high-paced, high-tech world. By going to the library’s website,

https://www.newport beachlibrary.org, you can access newspaper and

magazine articles right from your own computer.

The basic search is a keyword search. You can also search by

publication title.

And for students out there, or anyone who is just feeling

nostalgic, you can access historical records for both the New York

Times and the Los Angeles Times. The New York paper’s database covers

from 1851 to 2001. The Los Angeles database, at this time, extends

from 1881 to 1969.

Getting to these articles is easy. At the library’s main page,

click on the tab labeled “Find Information.” Have your library card

number handy so that you can sign in for the free service.

The next page gives you some choices. Click on “Databases.” Near

the lower right, you will see “ProQuest.” Click on that and you’re

in.

From there, you can type in names or subjects. You also have a

number of ways to narrow down your search. Instead of searching the

entire database, you can limit it to business journals, research

journals, newspapers, or the historical newspapers mentioned above.

You can also limit the dates you are looking for. If you are at

home, school, or the office, just check the “Full Text” box, and it

will only give you the full article which you can print out at your

own printer.

If you are feeling really ambitious, you can limit your reading

even further. You can tell it to look in only one newspaper or

journal. You can ask it to search in just the title and summary, or

the title and the full text of the article. You can confine the

search to only one type of article.

You can also tell it you only want newspapers, scholarly journals,

trade publications or reports. Finally, it lets you decide if you

want them in order of date or relevance.

Just think of all the information or fun reading that is just at

your fingertips. Get business information, movie reviews, notable

obituaries, opinion pieces, statistics, and even political cartoons,

all without budging from your desk.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Sara Barnicle. All titles may be

reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at

https://www.newport beachlibrary.org. For more information on the

Central Library or any of the branch locations, please contact the

Newport Beach Public Library at (949) 717-3800, option 2.