Issue 21

Issues in the News

While this is not a new product, T/Ls from states other than Victoria may not be aware of how useful the Issues CD-ROM from The Age is in information servicing across the curriculum.

The Issues in the News CD-ROM was initially developed in 1995 for schools and students working on current social and political issues-particularly Victorian VCE students. For T /Ls Australia wide who continually service information requests on current issues, this CD-ROM is an important national database. It contains full-text newspaper articles with this latest third edition containing those published during 1996 in The Age/Sunday Age.

Containing over 2,500 articles with text, photographs and graphical content, fifty major issues are categorised into 10 themes incorporating news stories, editorial opinions, letters to the editor, access age, features and opinion/ analysis articles. The themes covered are social issues, medical and health issues, the environment, economics, crime, police and the law, politics and government, international issues, and sport. There is also a section with background information on The Age newspaper as well as the style and elements of newspaper stories, roles of the journalist and editor in newspaper production and a profile of newspaper customers.

There is easy access of information with options clearly stated across the top of the screen or buttons directing searchers to the next step along the left side of the page. Clients can search directly by word or word combinations entering through the 'Search Option', or access via a series of steps using the 'Explore an Issue' button.

Each article details the journalist, the publication date and shows page and section. All are full text with illustrations as they appeared in the newspaper. For example, researching the topic 'Child Abuse' produced 74 articles arranged in date order from January 22 through to December 10, with the headlines/lead sentence beside the date. To produce the full article clients simply click on the headline. As newspaper text is generally recognised as having a reading age of 12+, this database is useful for providing information suitable for all levels of secondary students and covers most areas of the curriculum.

Cost: $89
Can be networked at no extra charge

Available from: Emily Freeman
CD-ROM Coordinator
The Age

Phone: (03) 9601 2872

Fax: (03) 9670 4584

e-mail: [email protected]