Hello!  My name’s Rebecca.  For those who haven’t been following this series, I am the Information Literacy Librarian here at the Chester County Library.  (You might recognize me as the librarian with the purple hair!)  Welcome to this series here on our blog where every week (or thereabouts) I’ll be introducing you to one of the library’s databases.  A library database, for those who are unsure, is essentially just an online resource that the library pays for so that you can access it for free with your library card!

Last week, I introduced you to how to access the New York Times online through the library, and this week I’d like to similarly introduce you to how to access and navigate The Philadelphia Inquirer online through the library.  Just as with the New York Times, access to The Philadelphia Inquirer is completely free with your library card, but The Philadelphia Inquirer through us might look a little different from The Philadelphia Inquirer’s standard website.  This is because our access to The Philadelphia Inquirer is through an organization called NewsBank that aggregates the current issues with historical records. 

So when you click our link to access The Philadelphia Inquirer, you will notice that you have three options to choose from.  The Philadelphia Inquirer 1829-1922 in image format, The Philadelphia Inquirer 1981-current in text format, and The Philadelphia Inquirer 2018-current in image format.  The difference between image format and text format is that image format is essentially just a scanned copy of the physical newspaper whereas the text format is just the text of the articles.  Text format articles will show up in a list of links to each article individually categorized by section of the newspaper.  Image format will show the entire issue at once with clickable thumbnail images down the side of the screen that you can click through similar to how you would flip through the pages of a physical newspaper.  You can use the viewer pane to zoom in and out of the page to make articles easier to read.  So all you have to do to read The Philadelphia Inquirer is choose between image and text format, choose your issue date, and start reading!

Find our links to The Philadelphia Inquirer on our website by going to chescolibraries.org –> Tools and Research –> All CCLS Databases –> P –> Philadelphia Inquirer

This post is number twelve in this databases series!  If you missed the previous installments, you can view them here.