Navigating the Collection
SEARCHING FOR AN ITEM
Let's start by searching for a name: “Marlene Deuel”
1) Enter the name into the search bar in the upper right-hand corner of the webpage:
2) Click on the item you are interested in.
3) You can read more information about this item by scrolling down. You can find information such as coverage (what years the item spans) or date created (when the item was created or the estimated date of creation if exact date unknown).
4) Under the title of the item there is a photo (or possibly multiple photos).
5) Click on a photo. This will let you enlarge and view the photo or document:
6) If there are multiple photos/images for an item, you will need to click through the numbers underneath the title of that item. You can click on the number of the image you want to look at, or click on "Previous" or "Next" to scroll through the images. The "Description" section on the page will give you a description of each numbered image:
7) Now that you are in the document, you can press “Ctrl+F” with a PC or press “Command+F" with a Mac and then type in your search term in the search box that appears:
7) Use the up and down arrows by the search box to find the instances of the name in this item. The name should be highlighted on each page it appears.
8) Click the plus or minus buttons on your screen to make the image larger or smaller.
9) If you cannot find a name you were expecting to find, here are some tips: try the index of the item (if it has it); try only searching by last name (just searching "Deuel" produces more results); or ask the Local History Librarian for assistance. Names and words might not always be searchable. A search for "Streamwood," for example, will not produce any results, so if you would like to peruse various Streamwood items, you will want to search with tags.
SEARCHING WITH TAGS
1) If you are on the file page (Title will say "File #84", for example), then scroll down the page and click on the link under “Item”:
2) Once in this item, you can click on a tag near the bottom of the page:
3) Clicking on the tag called “Newspaper articles” will lead you to all of the items in our digital collection tagged “Newspaper articles”. Clicking on the tag called "1974" will lead you to all of the items in our digital collection tagged "1974".
BROWSING BY COLLECTION
1) Click on the “Browse Collections” tab near the top of the page:
2) Now you can click on a collection for a specific topic, such as all the Streamwood High School yearbooks.
3) Newspaper collections are by year. The item "Streamwood Examiner (September 2006)" would contain any issues of the Streamwood Examiner published in September 2006. This item would then be in the collection "Streamwood Examiner (2006)".
4) Click "Sort by: Title" to alphabetize the collections.
BROWSING ITEMS
1) Click on the “Browse Items” tab near the top of the page:
2) You can scroll through the pages and see all of the items in our collection.
CONTRIBUTE AN ITEM
1) Click on the “Contribute an Item” tab near the top of the page:
2) Choose which type of item you would like to contribute to the collection:
3) Type “anonymous” in the Creator section if you do NOT wish for your name to be published in our digital collection as the creator of the item:
4) Fill out as much information as you can about your item. Give details on the date it was created, what location and city the item was created in, and what time of the day it was taken, if that is pertinent. You MUST be the creator of the item to donate it.
5) Give your name and email address. Emails will not be published in our digital collection.
6) Make sure you click the checkmark for “Publish my contribution on the web” or we will not be able to publish your donation to our collection. Make sure to also click the checkmarks for “I’m not a robot” and “I agree to the terms and conditions”:
7) If you have a physical item you would like to contribute, please click the “Contact Us” tab and fill out the form or speak with a librarian.
PLAYING A SOUND FILE
1) For oral histories, there might be two parts of an oral history, plus a transcript. Part 1 of the interview will be the sound file that comes first. You can click on "2" or "3" to find part 2 of the interview or find the transcript of the interview. Click the play button to listen:
CONTACT US
1) Click on the “Contact Us” tab near the top of the page and fill out the form:
ABOUT
1) By clicking on the About tab, you can find a short history about our library. Find out more about our library by searching for Poplar Creek Public Library in the search bar.
You can find Poplar Creek Public Library’s digital collection by going to pclib.omeka.net or clicking on the “Resources” tab on the library website and then clicking on “Local History”:
For further assistance, please ask the reference department or the Local History Librarian for help.
If you are looking for our physical collection, it is housed in the Genealogy/Local History Room downstairs at the Streamwood location. We are scanning selected physical items for our digital collection.