I’m looking for a collection of general news headlines for April and May of 2012, and I’m having trouble finding what I need. Wikipedia maintains date pages with world events that happened on specific days, but almost all of them relate to wars and killings and crimes. And Google News is searchable within specific time periods, but you have to actually perform a search, which doesn’t give you all headlines for a specific date.
So for example, if I want a collection of top headlines from world news, US news, technology, sports, politics, etc on, say, April 18th, 2012, or May 3rd, 2012, or even a range between April 1st and May 31st, 2012, how can I find something like that?
Go to your local public library, find the Reference Desk, and say “I would like to see some papers from April and May of 2012.” They will say “What papers do you want to see?” and then you will tell them what you want.
Voila!
Alternatively, if you live in a rich or technologically-advanced section of the country, you can go to your local public library’s website, and find the information online as well. That is highly dependent on the location, and you will most likely need a library card access number to get at the databases.
The Newseum in Washington DC has a feature on its website that shows today’s front pages of papers around the world. They don’t archive this for all dates, just significant ones. A very few of those archived covers are in April 2012.
Edited to add, where do you live that a library card costs sixty bucks?
I live outside the city limits. People who live within city limits have the cost included in their property taxes. If you live outside the city limits, you have to pay $60 per household per year.
Do libraries still have microfiche copies of newspapers? If so, can you just walk into the city library and access the microfiche archives without having a library card?
In my state, I can get a library card in any county without a fee. Just have to prove identity and address (normally, driver’s license and something like a utility bill does the job).
I have a library card from a county in Virginia. I was in another local jurisdiction and happened to have some extra time and was across the street from the library so I popped in for a few minutes and happened to ask if my card was cross-accepted. They said I would need a local card but gave me one right then and there no questions asked.
I was told at the Virginia Tech library in Blacksburg, VA that anyone can get a university library card. You might not be able to check out as many books or may not be able to hold them for as long as a student or faculty member, but you could at least use the library.