MediaScan's History
MediaScan was developed by a VCE teacher to assist his pupils prepare for the VCE CAT 1, where students studied an issue and prepared a written presentation of an issue. Over the next couple of years, the teacher incorporated interstate papers and extended the index to include other articles. In 1996 Bendigo TAFE Library purchased MediaScan. At the start of 2002, MediaScan was sold to its current owners.
Since 2005 MediaScan has indexed articles relevant to schools in the Melbourne Daily papers, excluding business, sport, fashion, gossip and review articles.
MediaScan takes the role of clipping for your vertical files, saving you and your staff the task of selecting, cataloguing, filing and indexing articles.
You may select the time that the articles are relevant and keep your paper stack accordingly. This is done from a user friendly administration section of the program. Valid ranges are from 3 months to 24 months. It's up to you.
MediaScan indexes the following articles:
- All lead items [on page 1] except sport results.
- All feature articles.
- All articles concerning contentious issues eg: euthanasia, abortion, republic debate.
- Most articles about Australian politics, elections, events.
- All editorials, all opinion articles, commentaries.
- Letters to the editor.
- Main international articles; eg East Timor, Kosovo, elections.
- All articles about new technology, inventions, science research.
- Articles from computer sections.
- National and international disasters; earthquakes, floods.
- Political and topical cartoons.
- Summaries of reports, statistics, opinion polls, research papers.
- Education.
Our indexers are either school librarians currently working in schools, or qualified librarians working part-time from home.
Our staff comprise:
Chris Spencer: Data, technical queries, assistance, indexes The Australian; compiles the newsletter, attends conferences.
Gloria Balcam: Indexes The Herald Sun.
Kate Broadley: Indexes The Age.