See our weekly lists of new resources in the Library collection

See our weekly lists of new resources in the Library collection

The John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library (JCPML) travelling exhibition 'Menzies, Fadden, Curtin and the Japanese Envoy' is on display on the entry level of the Robertson Library until mid-February 2010.

The exhibition explores the unusual, sometimes secretive, personal relationships that developed in 1941-42 between Australia's three prime ministers of that period - Robert Menzies, Arthur Fadden and John Curtin - and the new Japanese envoy to Australia, Tatsuo Kawai.

It showcases the research of 2009 JCPML Visiting Scholar, Bob Wurth, and contains photographs and documents that have never been on display in Australia before. These include images from the Kawai Family Collection at Manazuru in Japan and translations of Japanese texts commissioned by Bob Wurth. A beautiful jewel case given to Mrs Elsie Curtin by Tatsuo Kawai in July, 1941, is on display, along with the copy of Kawai’s book ‘The Goal of Japanese Expansion’ which he gave to Elsie shortly before Australia declared war with Japan.

The travelling exhibition is complemented by a web resource at http://john.curtin.edu.au/envoy which provides in-depth background into the relationships between the three prime ministers and the Japanese Envoy.

There is a link to it on the Library's homepage, and it leads you to an exciting new version of the catalogue full of Web 2.0 functionality, for example:

Reviews
To write a review for an item, simply click on the Write a review link when you are in the detailed screen of any item.

Tagging
Have you tried adding a tag to an item? You might tag items you found useful for an assignment, a paper or a group project you are working on. Simply add a tag using the tagging functionality in the detailed view of an item. You can add the same tag to multiple items, and then pull them all together into a neat list by searching for your tag using the in user tags search.

Please let us know what you think about the New Catalogue via the feedback link on the first page of the New Catalogue.

The Library’s New Catalogue is more intuitive and offers a range of improvements including:

• One simple search across multiple collections (books, journals, AV, archival materials, ...)
• Ability to limit search results to “online only” – particularly useful for our off-campus users
• Option to narrow your search results to items currently available, type of resource or items held at a certain location
• Suggestions for new searches, relevance and popularity ranking
• “Did you mean?” functionality
• Personalized workspace allowing you to save and organise records, to add notes and set up alerts
• Ability to add your own tags and reviews to items
• Ability to share records by emailing, printing, or pushing them to other social network applications such as delicious, Connotea or EndNote.

Log into our New Catalogue from our homepage and send us your feedback by 9 November 2009 for a chance to win a $50 Coles-Myer gift card.

Extended opening hours for the Robertson Library over Study week and Exams.

To help you prepare for the upcoming exams and finish those assignments the Robertson Library will once again be open for extended hours over the Study Week and Exam Period.

From Monday 2nd November to Wednesday 18th November inclusive, the Robertson Library will be open:

On Weekdays from 8am to 10.45 pm

On Weekends from 10am to 10.45 pm