Urgent stock check

All the staff at Treasure Hunt Towers (even the cat) like to get out and about, sampling new websites, revisiting old ones, and conveying our impressions to you, dear reader. But this week we’ve decided to stop in and examine two useful "add-ons" to our own Westminster Libraries website.

We Use Lots Of Paper

Actually we try not to use much paper, and that’s not what WULOP stands for, which is Westminster Union List of Periodicals - quite a mouthful! Don’t be daunted: WULOP is a straightforward catalogue of the newspapers, magazines and journals stocked by Westminster Libraries and Archives.

This ranges from centuries-old stuff gathering dust in a basement (sorry, cleaners) to hot-off-the-Internet publications which you can access online with your Westminster Libraries card. It’s a researcher’s dream - you can trace wars, peaceful pursuits, fashions and financial crises through the centuries and up to now. And you don’t have to wear funny specs and a holey cardie to be a researcher - if you’re "growing" your family tree, the press in its many forms can provide great background. Unless your relatives were famous or notorious, in which case you might be able to fill in the foreground as well!

WULOP says what’s available and where it is. If you’re after something in print which resides in a library stack, don’t forget to check before you travel. Stuff happens, and it’s a pity to waste a journey.

(From the Gateway to websites, select "News & magazines". WULOP is a Key Link.)

With a song in my heart (and thousands more on paper)

And now for something completely different. And a bit the same. The Song Index is a new venture from Westminster Music Library. They figured that prospective songsters in search of sheet music might want to check what’s available without leaving their music stands. The Music Library has over 75,000 songs in sheet music form, including popular, jazz and folk songs, songs from musicals and films, classical songs and opera arias.

What they’ve done is to go through their huge collection of anthologies, noting down each individual song to be included in the Song Index. Presumably, now they’ve finished, they can stop counting and do a bit more singing!

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Music". Westminster Music Library is a Key Link, and there’s also a direct link to the Song Index.)

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