Swinburne Library Blog

The New Title lists have just been updated and are ready to browse. Choose from Subject or Location lists (3 pages) or ALL TITLES.

The recent Library Client Survey will provide us with a wealth of information about what you want from the library service and any gaps that we need to address.

The incentive to complete the 2008 survey was a chance to win an Ipod Touch or one of five Ipod Nanos.

The major prize of an Ipod Touch went to Chanelle King (pictured, top left) who was over the moon about it. Her last MP3 player had recently stopped working. Her smile says it all.

We are thrilled to announce the other winners:

Wayne Pelling
Gemma Morgain
Sharon Kemp
Cagdas Toprak
Trent Jackson

RequestTV is a new media database from Informit. It's a program guide of all television programs broadcast on the ABC, ABC2, SBS, Seven, Nine and Ten networks since October 2007.

• Go to RequestTV

• Go to TVNews

• More information about the transition
• Wiley InterScience
  

Readers may be aware that Swinburne has just signed an MOU with Caltech which will see extensive collaboration in radio and optical astronomy over the next 5 yrs.* This will include access to the world's largest and most powerful optical telescope: the twin 10m telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory for up to 20 nights a year:

Then 1937

(From Article in the 1937 edition of Open Door, The Swinburne College magazine)

'On the roof of the Art School building, there is an iron structure which houses the Swinburne telescope (donated to the college in 1926). ** This instrument has not attracted very much attention from the students until this year when a group of determined students banded together and set about putting the instrument in working order.'

Now 2008

'We'll be able to start new research into the observation of galaxies and distant universes, quasars and the structure of the local universe,' he said.*

Then 1937

'Notable among things of interest which have been observed by the students in their nocturnal study of sytematical "telescopology"are the rings around Saturn, the satellites and markings of Jupiter, the craters on the moon and the polar caps on Mars.' **

Now 2008

Professor Karl Glazebrook, also an astronomer at Swinburne, believes the agreement will have a significant impact on the learning environment for astronomy students who will be able to access equipment that nobody in Australia has had access to before. *

Then 1960

(Listed in Special classes section of the 1960 edition of the Swinburne Technical College Handbook)

'Special classes - Astronomy ***

'Instructor: Mr J Long, A.M.T.C., M.S.R., M.I R.

'The class caters for beginners who wish to be able to recognise the various types of heavenly bodies and to know something of the methods by which astronomers have obtained their knowledge of these bodies. The College has an eighteen inch Newtonian telescope which is used in conjunction with the class.'

(Photograph available online from Swinburne Image Bank and through Picture Australia)

Now 2008

'Access to Keck's giant mirrors and state-of-the-art instruments is going to make an enormous difference,' he said.

'In particular, Keck has taken the lead in Adaptive Optics. This is where a laser beam is projected 90km into the Earth's atmosphere to create an artificial star. Astronomers can then use this star as a reference point, allowing them to compensate for atmospheric distortions and make corrections.' *

Then 1937

'The telescope itself is one of no mean size. The length of the barrel is eight feet and the diameter twenty-one inches. The instrument is a reflecting telescope, that is, based on the principles of reflected light.. Light coming from a heavenly body passes down the barrel in parallel rays and strikes upon a spherical mirror eighteen inches in diameter. This mirror is so made that when rays parallel to its principal axis, the centre line of the barrel,  strike its silvered surface, they are reflected back to converge at the focal point which is about six feet six inches from the mirror. This small flat mirror collects the light rays and reflects them at right angles to the principal axis at the eyepiece where the image is inspected.  The eyepiece is so arranged that magnifications from 50 to about 500 can be obtained.' **

**  From Article in the 1937 edition of Open Door, The Swinburne College magazine

*** Listed in Special classes section of the 1960 edition of the Swinburne Technical College Handbook

• Area will be staffed to ensure secure environment
• Access to main collection and borrowing (using self check outs)
• Access to Level 4 Silent and Level 3 open group study areas
• Other standard services not available

Launch of centenary publication Practical measures: 100 years at Swinburne.

The gentleman (right photo, seated) is Mr Harold Popple and he is over 100 years old. He came to Swinburne to enter the Boys' Junior Technical School in 1920 and stayed on to complete a diploma in Engineering. He graduated in 1925.

With Mr Popple is Dr Love, the author of Practical measures.

Mr Popple gave an address at the launch and inspired the guests with his stories about Swinburne then, his life as a 'Swinburne-qualified' engineer and, most of all, his ability to speak at length without notes and entertainingly.

The photograph, taken by a Swinburne colleague, Kelvin Rowley, is online on our Swinburne Image Bank.

In this photograph (below), also on Swinburne Image Bank, Mr Popple is one of the alumni engineers standing on the right:

It is still quite special for Swinburne to have this colourful history recorded so clearly in the 21^st century via the Swinburne Image Bank and Picture Australia.

Tell us what you think for your chance to win an iPod Touch (32GB), or one of three iPod Nanos (4GB)!

The Library is running a general survey from 28 April to 11 May, open to all library users - including students, staff, and visitors from other universities.

Spanning all Swinburne campuses, the survey is the largest of its kind run by the Swinburne library and will help to inform our decisions in the future, improving our service offerings to students, staff and the public.  The results from our previous survey in 2006 led us to increase computer access, renovate library campuses to increase space, purchase more textbooks and improve the online experience.

Help us by participating in the 2008 survey and you could one an iPod Touch (32GB) personal web browser and audio/video player, or one of three iPod Nano (4GB) personal audio/video players.

Begin the survey >>