We love databases!

This week we're beginning a series of posts to let you know about the fantastic range of databases which are available through our Swansea UWTSD library website.

Databases are online, organized collections of information. You can access them at anytime of the day or night, through any device with an internet connection! Word of warning though, to benefit from  the material available through the databases, you will need to access them through the library website and our  Databases A-Z list.

We are beginning our series with the database NewsBank.

NewsBank

You may have noticed that we have recently acquired a brand new newspaper database called NewsBank. NewsBank is a database which includes newspapers such as The Times and Financial Times, as well as local newspapers, for example the South Wales Evening Post and the Western Mail. In fact, NewsBank features more than 700 local, regional and national news sources from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Wales. There’s even a map of the U.K., so that you can research by country.

NewsBank also has a section featuring special reports which focus upon topics of current interest. These reports contain content from sources throughout the world to provide a global perspective, current and background information, statistics, maps, images, websites, and suggested search terms.

So, why not have a look and if you would like help accessing NewsBank, your subject librarians will be happy to help!

Would you like online access to thousands of UK newspaper articles, old and new?

No problem! The Newsbank database, freely accessible via the SMU library website, offers access to articles from over 350 local and national UK newspapers. All the major national newspapers are indexed from The Guardian to The Sun and you can search through decades’ worth of editons. So, if you’d like to know what Libby Purves had to say about the Boat Race protestor in The Times yesterday, or if you’d like to search the archive for newspaper articles which mention Swansea Metropolitan University (1,419 of them when I checked: the latest from yesterday’s Western Mail, and the oldest also from the Western Mail in 2007!), then Newsbank is the database for you.

And that’s not all! Newsbank also compiles Special Reports, a collection of articles, websites, videos and images based around different topics. Special Reports available this month include Earth Day, Poetry Around the World and Financial Literacy Month, so you can see that there is quite a variety of topics on offer!

We’d definitely recommend giving Newsbank a go. If you’d like some more information or have any questions about this or our other resources, please ask a librarian.

Congratulations to Swansea's Wembley Winners!

Whether you're a sports fan or not, if you live in Swansea you couldn't have escaped the football frenzy of the last 24 hours! With a nailbiting 4-2 victory over Reading at Wembley yesterday Swansea City Football Club finally acheived their hard earned promotion to the Premier League. As fans prepare to welcome the team home with a victory parade through the city tonight, why not keep up-to-date with all the latest developments in the local news via our Newsbank database, which includes Welsh regional publications such as the South Wales Evening Post and the Western Mail.

Congratulations to the Swans from all at Swansea Met Libraries!


Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net