Medianet
Explore local history on film, TV and radio from any computer
Invercargill City Libraries and Archives have partnered with Ngā Taonga to create this service for our users. Making digital content as widely available as possible, with the option of remote access, is part of our evolution as a library service for the 21st century.
Partnering with Aotearoa’s audiovisual archive makes it easy for us to share unique moments from our region’s history.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to Medianet?
Invercargill City Libraries and Archives have partnered with Ngā Taonga to create this service for our users. Making digital content as widely available as possible, with the option of remote access, is part of our evolution as a library service for the 21st century.
Partnering with Aotearoa’s audiovisual archive makes it easy for us to share unique moments from our region’s history.
Why now?
We needed to make this change in 2021 because in internet terms, Medianet was quite old, and the software that it ran on, Flash, had become obsolete. Increasing everyone’s access to local history and audiovisual taonga is an important goal for the Library, so we decided to replace the Medianet terminal with a site that you can log in to from anywhere.
Can I access this material outside the library?
Yes, the new site can be accessed from any computer connected to the internet, not just library terminals. The address is ngataonga.org.nz/southland
What can I do on the new site?
Our partners at Ngā Taonga have brought together over 700 items of film, television and audio history that were made in, around or about our region. You can access the whole list and sort and filter it to your interests by clicking on the words: Explore local content available on our catalogue.
There are pre-selected online exhibitions that you can explore from the landing page, including Sellebration, which is about vintage advertising, and ANZAC Sight and Sound, about World War 1.
You can also search the whole of Ngā Taonga’s online catalogue by clicking the magnifying glass at the top right of the screen. Each link will open in a new tab.
How do I navigate the site?
Any link that you click on will open a new tab, so it’s easy to find your way back to the start
How to search this catalogue
Do a simple search of the collections by entering your search terms and keywords into the search box, then click “Go.”
This will produce a broad result, which can then be limited by media type: Film and Video, Audio, Book, Poster, Still or Ngā Taonga website.
To search only items that can be viewed or listened to online, check the Available Online button in the Availability filter.
To further narrow down your search select “View Filters” to filter your search by year, place of production, or genre. Once you have chosen your filters, select “Apply Filters” to apply these filters to your search.
When searching for a Māori word or phrase, try entering your search term both with and without macrons, e.g. Māori / Maori.
Please note that when you click on a catalogue item it will open in a new browser tab, keeping your current search results in the original tab.
Clearing your Search
To start a new search, simply click the “Clear” button.
Exact Phrases
If you know the person, place or search term you are looking for you can search for it by using double quotation marks – e.g. “Invercargill City Libraries and Archives.”
If you do not get enough results from your search, try using fuzzy search by putting a tilde (~) after your term. Fuzzy searching will find a word even if it is misspelled.
use ~ after a word to mean “similar to” – e.g. library~
use ~ after a phrase to find words within a certain distance of each other – e.g. “angel table”~5
Use AND, OR, NOT and parentheses to refine your searches.
Use AND to get results that include all your search terms – e.g. salt AND pepper will retrieve only results that contain both of these words.
Use OR to get results that include at least one of your search terms – e.g. Auckland OR Tāmaki.
Use NOT to exclude unwanted search terms – e.g. Whanganui NOT river will retrieve results that include “Whanganui,” but not “river”.
Use parentheses ( ) to group search terms – e.g. (cat OR dog) AND Invercargill.
Exact phrases and parentheses can also be used with Boolean Searches – e.g. “Whanganui River” AND (Cat OR Dog).
