Imagine that you are living in America in 1849, and that you start hearing rumours about a gold strike in far-off California. They say you can pluck gold right out of the river, and can easily become a rich man! However, the road to California is hard. Why, 3 years ago, the Donner Party became snowbound on the way, and they say the survivors ran out of food and ate the dead!

How will you find out what's really happening? You’ll read the newspapers (or find someone to read them to you). Newspapers are the only significant media source you have. Those newspaper accounts are the best (and sometimes only) source of information around. Read the stories, and make your own decision on whether to go prospecting for gold in California!

Back in the 21^st century, you can still get a taste of what people were reading about in 1849 and the following years. Newspaper accounts from that era are compiled in the book To the Golden Shore: America goes to California – 1840, by researcher and editor Peter Browning. These are the very stories that stoked gold rush fever in the U.S. Check it out, at San Jose Public Library!

Did you know that you can access popular business titles such as Investor's Business Daily, Money, Silicon Valley/ SJ Business Journal and other titles online?  Well, you can for free, with a San José Public Library card.  You can save a few bucks on subscriptions, reduce your paper use, and catch up on back issues. Please visit the news stand page for more titles available online.

Have you ever thrown away a magazine and later realized you wanted to re-read an article from it? Well, good news! We have an online resource called Academic Search Complete that you can search for publications by title and date or article keywords. For example, maybe you wanted to read an article that was in the June issue of Fortune magazine. You could search by the magazine name and then you will be able to select which year and month you would like to view. This is a good way to browse the month's articles and especially helpful when you can't remember the article title. Other publications in Academic Search Complete that may be of interest: Money, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Economist, Inc., and Consumer Reports.