Family History

Greetings Genealogists!

Many of you may already be aware that Information Services has a dedicated room at Speers Point Library stocked with resources to assist your family history habit. You are also probably familiar with the wonderful members from the Lake Macquarie Family History Group who graciously volunteer their time and expertise each Friday in said room between 10 am - 1 pm. And I'm sure that I'm preaching to the converted when I mention that you can access, free of charge, the Internet based program Ancestry.Com (Library Edition) from any of one of our branches.

What you won't know however, is that in the coming weeks and months we intend to change the focus of this blog somewhat, with the aim of keeping you increasingly informed and regularly updated in local family history happenings. For example, the library is currently in the process of acquiring the following batch of 'gene' resources:

• New South Wales Police Gazette Complete Set 1862-1938
• New South Wales Telephone Directories: Compendium 1 - set of 4 Northern and Western Districts Directories 1946-48
• New South Wales Telephone Directories: Compendium 2 - selection of 21 Directories
  

Stay tuned for further updates!

HSC Resources

The theme for this year’s HSC, is ‘Belonging’. For further details see the INFOCUS topics folder housed at INF. It is also well worth consulting the NSW Board of Studies website at http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/

This site discusses preferred teaching aides and resource suppliers, as well as an explanation of the school A-E grading system complete with work samples and commentaries from markers. There is also a site called ‘HSC all my own work’ the aim of this site is to educate students about ethical modes of study and more specifically, how to avoid plagiarism.

For further information, it is also worth browsing the HSC Online Website http://www.hsc.csu.edu.au/ , hosted by the NSW Dept of Education and Charles Sturt Uni. There students can discover past HSC papers and detailed explanations of various subject syllabuses by the teachers who designed them. Students can also personalise this page and learn about "search engine optimisation"!

Onf further site well worth checking out is the collaborative collaborative effort ‘Inside Break’ a HSC resources website provided by Warringah, Manly and Pittwater Council Libraries. Inside Break contains information and links to lectures, library resources and past exams. This site also offers forums for students to contribute to and online homework help. There is an entire page in this site dedicated to the concept of ‘Belonging’
www.insidebreak.org.au/