People often ask at the reference desk, "Where do you keep the newspapers?" Sounds like a simple question, right? If you ask, expect to hear the librarian say, "That depends!"

Many people who ask this question are looking for the latest copy of the Nashua Telegraph or Manchester Union Leader. The latest paper copy of the newspapers can be found in the Stearns Room. To get there from the library entrance, bear right past the circulation desk, pass the New Fiction display, and you'll see an open doorway on your right. In the Stearns Room, you'll also find new and recent copies of our general magazine collection, including business and consumer titles such as Consumer Reports. We keep the latest month's newspapers in the Stearns Room. The newest copy will be out on display, and older papers will be hanging in folders underneath the display.

Sometimes our newspaper-seekers are actually looking for older editions of the newspaper. For this, we have a variety of options available. We have the Telegraph on microfilm going back to the 1800s, and two new microfilm-scanner machines available for viewing, printing, and e-mailing articles from these papers. These are located near the hardcover fiction at the back of the top floor. Just ask at the reference desk if you need assistance using the microfilm machines.

We also have a subscription to two electronic newspaper databases. For modern newspapers (going back about 15 years or so), there's "Newsbank." You can search Newsbank for specific words to find articles that contain those words. There are dozens of newspapers in the Newsbank collection, from local newspapers such as the Telegraph and 1590 Broadcaster to nationwide newspapers (the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and Boston Globe, among others).

For those doing historical research beyond New Hampshire's borders, we also offer the "Newspaper Archives" database. This is a searchable collection of digitized newspapers dating as far back as the 1700s. It is available in the library only, and does not include New Hampshire newspapers.

You can get to both Newsbank and Newspaper Archives through the library's web site, www.nashualibrary.org. From there, click on the button that says "iBrowse Databases" and choose "Newspapers and Magazines" from the dropdown menu. Or go to the news listing directly at http://www.nashua.lib.nh.us/IbrowseAdultNews.htm.

If you're still not sure where to find what you need, do stop by the reference desk and let us know what you're looking for!

Big old abandoned buildings intrigue me. And they don't get much bigger and older than the abandoned ancient city of Machu Picchu. That's probably part of the reason that Machu Picchu was recently voted one of the new seven wonders of the world in a contest run by the New7Wonders Foundation. The other six winners were Chichen Itza, the Taj Mahal, Rome's Colosseum, Jordan's Petra, Brazil's Christ Redeemer statue, and the Great Wall of China.

Machu Picchu, believed to have been built in the fifteenth century and abandoned in the 1500s, was rediscovered on July 24, 1911. Yale professor Hiram Bingham located the ruins of this ancient Incan city, complete with palaces and temples, in the Andes Mountains in Peru. A quick overview about Machu Picchu is available in the World Book Encyclopedia online, available through our web site at http://www.nashua.lib.nh.us/IbrowseAdultAlpha.htm. If you'd like to read historical newspaper articles about the expedition, try our Newspaper Archives database (available in the library only). Or, for more detailed reading, we also have some books on the topic:

The Machu Picchu guidebook : a self-guided tour, by Ruth M. Wright, Alfredo Valencia Zegarra. (call number 918.537 W)
Machu Picchu, by Sheryl Peterson. (call number JUV 985.3 P)
Machu Picchu, by Elizabeth Mann ; with illustrations by Amy Crehore. (call number JUV 985.3 M)

If you'd like to read more about the recent "New Seven Wonders of the World," try our Newsbank database (also available at http://www.nashua.lib.nh.us/IbrowseAdultAlpha.htm) for current news articles. The contest winners were announced on July 7, 2007. You might also like to stop by the Stearns Room, where we keep the most recent month's newspapers in paper copy.

The new seven wonders contest was decided by call-in and internet votes from all over the world. A more extensive and "serious" project is the UNESCO world heritage program. According to their web site, the UNESCO project "seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity." There are several hundred sites designated as World Heritage sites, and you can find the list at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/. Machu Picchu, Petra, the Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, and Chichen-Itza are all World Heritage sites, as is the Parthenon, the Great Barrier Reef, and hundreds of other sites of historical, cultural, and natural significance.

Been waiting for the Nashua Telegraph to be digitized? There's good news!

Back issues of the Nashua Telegraph from 1946 to 1977 are now available in the Newspaper Archive database. Even better, you can access this historical newspaper collection from any computer with internet access, whether in the library, at home, or on the road.

You can use the Newspaper Archive database by going to our databases page. Click on the link for the Newspaper Archive. If you're trying this from outside the library, you'll need to enter the last 5 digits of your library card number. Then you'll be brought to the main page for the Newspaper Archive database, where you can search or browse through the newspapers.

In addition to the Telegraph, the Newspaper Archive database gives you access to more than 2,000 historical newspapers from around the country, including the New York Times and much more.

The database has scanned images of the actual newspapers, so you'll see photographs as well as the text of the articles. You can print or download copies of the articles in PDF format.

You can also browse through the Resources section for collections of articles on a particular topic. These include articles on Abraham Lincoln, AIDS, global warming, September 11, the Kennedy assassination, and much more.

So, take a look at the Newspaper Archive and let us know how you like it!