Newspapers on the Web

Since mid-1995, Singapore Press Holdings, the newspaper publisher in Singapore, has also produced electronic versions of these dailies on the World Wide Web. The websites make interesting surfing as they not only provide full-text articles on select stories every day, they have also customised the contents of the Web versions into specific sections not available in the print format. The websites also have an archive searchable by keywords but only articles of the last seven days are available. Articles found can be downloaded or printed.

Besides The Straits Times Interactive and Business Times Online on the Web, the publishers have also developed Web versions of other dailies in Singapore, namely the New Paper, Berita Harian (in Malay) and Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese). This will enable you to expand your searches to cover local, and particularly vernacular newspapers which are not indexed in the Press Clippings Collection. All the sites can be accessed from the mother website, called AsiaOne, at http://www.asia1.com.sg. This site also hosts a number of local and foreign electronic newspapers and magazines if you wish to gather more information.

To meet users' needs for quicker and up-to-date access to newspapers, the NUS Libraries has subscribed to Factiva and LexisNexis Academic. They provide access to not only local newspapers but also news from Dow Jones, Reuters and other major online sources plus full text publications.

• On Factiva, The Straits Times from 1 Jan 1995 and Business Times from 30 Apr 1994 can be searched and is updated daily.
• On LexisNexis Academic, The Straits Times and Business Times from 1 May 1992 can be searched and is updated daily.

These databases is available through the Digital Library under Newspapers to all NUS staff and students.

Newspapers on microform

Newspapers are indeed an important and useful source that provides current as well as retrospective and historical information. Please note that the Press Clippings Collection is not the only recourse to looking for newspaper articles. However, there is no index for these newspapers on microfilm. Microfilm sets of The Straits Times dating from 1880 and Business Times dating from 1976 are available from the Central Library Loan Counter. Check Newspapers on microform for instructions on locating the period you need.

Press Clippings Collection in NUS Libraries

Newspapers provide a unique source of information with their emphasis on recent issues and topics which may not be covered in other published sources. In the Central Library, our staff provide newspaper clippings arranged into broad categories for easy browsing by topic.

About the collection

The Press Clippings Collection was started as early as 1957, with more files started in 1980. The scope of the collection covers reports on Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and ASEAN (as an entity) published in The Straits Times, The Sunday Times and Business Times.

There are some exceptions to this practice, e.g. there are files on Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). Articles specific to Malaysia are compiled separately with some exceptions, e.g. files on Rubber, Tin and Islam contain clippings for both Singapore and Malaysia.

Besides news and feature articles, select letters from the Forum Page and official replies are included. Excluded are stock prices, advertisements and appointments notices, law cases and brief columns. As a rule, pictures are not clipped but may be included if they are significant to the article.

Personalities

Personalities files are an offshoot of the Press Clippings collection. They contain biographical information on prominent personalities of this region and are kept in the Reference Office in ring binders. These files are arranged in alphabetical order by name and may be consulted during office hours.

Individual files are kept on the various prime ministers of both Singapore and Malaysia, such as the late Tun Hussein Onn and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, besides Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Goh Chok Tong. These individual files are kept with the rest of the Press Clippings Collection.

How to use the Collection

Check the Press Clipping Subject Headings list to see if the subject you are looking for is indexed. Check the list carefully as it has details on when a file was opened or closed, scope notes as well as cross references to the established subject headings. The list is available at the Press Clippings area near the Singapore/Malaysia Collection.

Look for the files with the subject heading you want on the shelves. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject headings (A-Z) and in chronological order. Files on Malaysia on the same subjects are also shelved together and differentiated by "Malaysia" on the spine.

Open files

Aged (Aged) From 1988-; Before 1988, SEE: Social Life and Customs­Aged Used for: Elderly, Old people, Pensioners, Retirees, Retirement

Headings in bold mean that they are still in use and clippings are filed using this heading. Indicates when the file was opened, and where articles on that subject are found prior to the date. Aged is the established heading, i.e. the heading that is used for filing instead of these other terms.

Files with subdivisions

Medical & Health Services ­ General ­ AIDS ­ Hospitals

Subject headings may have subdivisions for a more specific search. Clippings are arranged by subdivision when the main heading becomes too general.

Closed files

Institute of East Asian Philosophies From 1983, 1986-1992; file closed) From 1992-1997; file closed, SEE: Institute of East Asian Political Economy) From 1997, SEE: East Asian Institute)

Headings in italics mean that the file is closed and the heading no longer used. If the heading has been changed or if the articles are compiled in another file, a SEE reference is provided.

Cross References

Elderly SEE Aged Easter SEE: Religion­Christianity SEE ALSO: Social life & customs­Festivals

A cross-reference refers you to the actual terms that is used or established in the collection. Cross-references are usually synonyms, acronyms or phrases. SEE ALSO reference indicates that the clipping may be found in more than one file.

Location

The Press Clippings Collection is located within the Central Library Singapore/Malaysia Collection area. The previous year's files are compiled into A4-sized 'books'. The current year's files have soft plastic covers for easy updating. At the end of the year, the files are sent for hard cover binding after they have been microfilmed for preservation. The hard covers enable the files to withstand the heavy usage they are subjected to.

The Press Clippings Collection is only available in the Central Library. However, select files which relate to the economy, business and industry are duplicated and made available to users at the Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library. In the Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library, users consult the microfilm sets which replace the print copies once the former are made available.

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Content by Lim-Yeo Pin Pin
Last updated 05/08/2002
URL: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lion/d/presclip.html

Updated from article in LINUS January 1997