How to find current, historical and online newspapers
The online catalogue is the main tool for finding newspapers kept by the State Library of Victoria. Searches can be made by title, place of publication, keywords and by user tags. There are some search tips below. There are also some tips about newspaper catalogue records which will help you understand how to read a catalogue entry.
If you know the name of a newspaper, search the online catalogue by title to find where the newspaper is located. If it is a common name try adding the city or place of publication after the title, for example Bulletin, Sydney, this will reduce the number of search results to a more manageable number.
You can search by town, city, region, state, or country if you do not know the name of a particular newspaper. You need to use the ‘Advanced’ search option of the catalogue to do this then chose 'In place newspaper published' from the drop down and then the name of the place, for example, 'Seymour' (see image below).
When you do a search for newspapers, you can sort your search results. This is especially useful if there are a lot of newspapers with a similar name. You can sort results by date from newest to oldest. You can also refine your search by creation date, resource type or by subject. These sorting options are called Facets. Make use of them to refine your searches.
Newspapers often change their name over time. If a newspaper changes its name it will have a separate catalogue entry for each new name.
Some newspapers have changed their names many times, sometimes reverting to their original names, and then changing again, for example, see Daily Telegraph, Sydney. Under 'Details' see the 'Related Works' note for this information.
Newspapers are continuing publications, sometimes called 'serials' or 'periodicals'. Some newspapers are very old and a Library may not hold all issues. The catalogue records will show the dates of publication and the 'holdings', i.e. the actual issues the Library has. So make sure the Library has the actual issues you want to see. The catalogue record below shows that the Cape Times was published from 1887 until 1913, but that the Library only has issues from January 1895.
Use the News articles search in catalogue to find results across millions of news articles from hundreds of newspapers. Text only, no pictures or ads. To find articles in popular Australian newspapers, combine one or more of the ISSNs below with your search terms:
| Newspaper | ISSN |
|---|---|
| The Advertiser (Adelaide) (1996— ) | 1039-4192 |
| The Age (Melbourne) (1991— ) | 0312-6307 |
| The Australian Financial Review (2003— ) | 0404-2018 |
| The Australian (1996— ) | 1038-8761 |
| The Courier Mail (Brisbane) (2001— ) | 1322-5235 |
| The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) (2001— ) | 1836-0203 |
| Herald Sun (Melbourne) (2001— ) | 1038-3433 |
| The Mercury (Hobart) (2001— ) | 1039-9992 |
| The Sydney Morning Herald (2001— ) | 0312-6315 |
| To find: | Type in: |
| articles about AFL in The Age | 0312-6307 AFL |
| articles about AFL in two or more papers | (0312-6307 OR 1038-3433) AFL |
The content is uploaded weekly so for the most recent articles on a topic, it's best to go to the individual database. For more search tips and information about using our catalogue, please visit the Using our catalogue help pages.
N= paper copy held onsite
NM= microfilm on open access
NSM= microfilm in onsite storage
NMR=paper copy held offsite
For example The Age is found in several locations.
In the Library catalogue entry of some newspapers, you may notice the note ‘Conservation Category’. This refers to the condition of the newspaper for the nominated years. The note will appear like this:
'Conservation category 3. Damaged: 1969-1970.'
'Conservation category 4. 1919'
The categories alert newspapers users (both Library staff and public) to the condition of the nominated years - the lower the number, the better the condition. For newspapers, there are four categories:
Conservation category 1: Frail
Conservation category 2. Fragile
Conservation category 3. Damaged
Conservation category 4. Use with extreme caution
Many of our earlier Victorian newspapers are bound, though not all. Often the entire year is classified as 'fragile' - but sometimes it is only some issues within the volume. Sadly, many of these fragile issues are untreatable. Newspapers were published on thin paper and were not designed to last very long.
The Library has treated and repaired fragile papers where possible. These papers can be ordered; however, users may need to adjust their handling technique to suit the condition of the paper. Staff in the Heritage Collections Reading Room (where the papers are viewed) may need to assess if the paper can be viewed - and will assist users to view and handle the material as required.
Interested in browsing newspapers of a particular type, or published in a particular region? Click on the tags below.
