McGILL WEB GEMS

McGill of yesteryear, e-books and finding the right word

By Mark Shainblum

Join us as we unearth the hidden gems and secret places on the websites of McGill University and its affiliated institutions.

Student Life at McGill: 1829-1997
www.archives.mcgill.ca/public/exhibits/life

This ten-year-old website provides a nice, unpretentious look back at student life from the early 19th century almost to the end of the 20th. It's divided into four thematic sections: Studies, Sports, Social Life and Issues, each of which features image galleries from different time periods. Some of the images are period photos—like the shot of a Canadian soldier with rifle and bayonet in the streets of Montreal during the 1970 October Crisis. Some are documents like the 1915 "War Contingent Supplement" to the McGill Daily, and a 1940s poster advertising a Harvard vs. McGill hockey tournament. They all provide an intriguing window on McGill days long past.

Finding e-books online
www.mcgill.ca/library-findinfo/ref/e-f/ebooks

You may not be aware that as a member of the McGill community, you have privileged access to thousands of e-books (many of them identical to recently published hardcopy editions) through databases like Books 24x7 and Safari Tech Books Online. This McGill Library website shows you how to access these exclusive e-book resources, and also provides a thorough listing of free e-books sources elsewhere on the Internet. Please note that the exclusive e-book databases are only available via on-campus McGill computers, or on private computers with McGill's VPN client installed and running."

TermiumPlus
www.termiumplus.gc.ca

Your McGill account also gives you free access to TermiumPlus, suite of terminology and linguistic tools offered by the Translation Bureau of Public Works and Government Services Canada. TermiumPlus offers "a trilingual dictionary that gives the precise English, French or Spanish equivalent to designate anything from a simple tool or a complex machine, to a disease or plant, association or committee. Almost every field of human endeavour is covered, plus a unilingual dictionary that can be used to check the meaning of a specialized term." To use TermiumPlus from a McGill computer (or, again, a private computer with McGill's VPN client installed and running*), simply log in to www.termiumplus.gc.ca, and select the language you wish to work in. On the login page, click the "Launch" button without entering a user name or password, and you will be logged in automatically.

For more information about installing and using the McGill VPN client, please see www.mcgill.ca/ics/tools/vpn.