Using Interactive Sources
In the Ontario Time Machine, the primary sources are shared with you in the form of a book where pages can be turned with a number of interactive features. The documents range in publication date from the mid 1700s to the early 1900s. Most of these books are rare and some are one of a kind. In some cases, the print copy may be too fragile to make it available for circulation or reference at the library where it is kept. This format makes the book publicly accessible to everyone, anytime. Throughout the world, more and more libraries are digitizing their historic collections in an effort to 1) make them more accessible, 2) preserve the original document and 3) provide a near perfect online reproduction.
Using the interactive pages feature is straightforward. The virtual books display like a real book, allowing the reader to view two pages at a time. A button bar across the top acts as a navigation tool or you can simply use your mouse and click and drag to ‘turn’ the pages with the page turning feature.
Throughout the documents there are links or notes which do one or more of the following: 1) define or explain a word or phrase, 2) reveal an image related to the word or phrase, 3) provide historical background and 4) explain a portion of the document more fully.
To navigate the books:
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Drag the lower right-hand corner to turn the page. |
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Click the orange icons on the pages to reveal pictures, explanations, definitions, sound clips, and videos related to what is inside the box. |
You can also use the navigation bar to:
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Move forward and backward within a book |
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Turn the orange icons on or off |
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Jump to another page |
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Zoom in to see the pages magnified |
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Rotate magnified page images |
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View the transcription of a handwritten page |
To print from the books:
The virtual books were designed to be used online. There is no print button and no way to print an entire book at once. To print one screen at at a time, change your printer setup to landscape and try a normal browser print.
